Three recent and commercially successful series of novels employ and adapt the resources of popular fantasy fiction to create visions of religious identity: J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter books, Phillip Pullmans Dark Materials and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins Left Behind series. The act of creating fantasy counter-worlds naturally involves all three stories in the creation of what Mike Gray terms transfigurations of transcendence: hopeful albeit paradoxical encodings of the ambiguous, non-observable reality whose primary locus in modern society is the societally extra-systemic human individual. Popular fantasy fiction turns out to involve acts of world-creation that are inherently religious and inherently paradoxical.A substantive examination shows that all three are involved in more or less intentional re-narrations of traditional Christian beliefs and narratives. The "atheist" His Dark Materials series does not deny but re-imagines the Christian visions of selfhood; the "traditionalist" Left Behind series does not simply replicate but modifies its own declared values; the apparent secularity of the Harry Potter series is shaped by its creative reception of Christian patterns and narratives. While the stories visions of selfhood clearly clash, the basic paradoxes involved in their struggle to articulate transcendence expose significant parallels and a productive conversation with the Christian tradition.It is not simply that popular fantasy fiction is theologically relevant the Christian Heilsgeschichte, too, proves to be highly relevant in popular culture. However, while far from obsolescent, models of religious identity in contemporary society require criticism and creativity and, as evinced most powerfully in the Harry Potter stories, a flair for constructive engagement with paradox. Three recent and commercially successful series of novels employ and adapt the resources of popular fantasy fiction to create visions of religious identity: J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter books, Phillip Pullmans Dark Materials and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins Left Behind series.The act of creating fantasy counter-worlds naturally involves all three stories in the creation of what Mike Gray terms transfigurations of transcendence: hopeful albeit paradoxical encodings of the ambiguous, non-observable reality whose primary locus in modern society is the societally extra-systemic human individual. Popular fantasy fiction turns out to involve acts of world-creation that are inherently religious and inherently paradoxical.A substantive examination shows that all three are involved in more or less intentional re-narrations of traditional Christian beliefs and narratives. The "atheist" His Dark Materials series does not deny but re-imagines the Christian visions of selfhood; the "traditionalist" Left Behind series does not simply replicate but modifies its own declared values; the apparent secularity of the Harry Potter series is shaped by its creative reception of Christian patterns and narratives. While the stories visions of selfhood clearly clash, the basic paradoxes involved in their struggle to articulate transcendence expose significant parallels and a productive conversation with the Christian tradition.It is not simply that popular fantasy fiction is theologically relevant the Christian Heilsgeschichte, too, proves to be highly relevant in popular culture. However, while far from obsolescent, models of religious identity in contemporary society require criticism and creativity and, as evinced most powerfully in the Harry Potter stories, a flair for constructive engagement with paradox.

Thirty years ago Richard Nixon called drugs "the modern curse of youth" and launched the modern "War on Drugs" as we know it. Thirty years later, even the conservative National Review has said, "The War on Drugs has failed." Spanning three decades, Busted tells readers why, charting the violence, chaos, and corruption that the War on Drugs has spawned. It includes frontline reporting from all over the world, literary journalism, public records, and provocative commentary from the left and right. P. J. O'Rourke writes, "Marijuana never kicks down your door in the middle of the night. Marijuana never locks up sick and dying people, does not suppress medical research, does not peek in bedroom windows.... Prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could." And Christopher Hitchens has charged that the drug war involves "a demented overseas entanglement, with off-the-record U.S. military aircraft running shady missions over Colombia and Peru, and high-level collaboration with ruthless and unaccountable 'Special Forces.' Colombia doesn't look any more like the U.S. as a result, but the U.S. does look a lot more like Colombia." From the crack dens of South Central L.A. to Iran Contra, from Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" to Plan Columbia, here is a collection of the most provocative, dissenting writing on the drug wars. Contributors include Gore Vidal, Alexander Cockburn, William Buckley Jr., Milton Friedman, Gary Webb, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, and a jailhouse interview with General Manuel Noriega by Oliver Stone.

"Essential—and fascinating—reading for anyone interested in the dilemmas posed by nuclear power."—Mike Wallace, 60 Minutes

By 6:00 a.m. on the morning of March 28, 1979, the reactor core at Three Mile Island was thirty minutes away from a meltdown, an apocalypse that would render a huge swath of eastern Pennsylvania permanently uninhabitable. The control room crew was at a loss. The memo that would have warned them was never sent.

This factual, riveting thriller is based on exclusive interviews with key operating personnel. Mike Gray, author of The China Syndrome, and Ira Rosen, producer for CBS's 60 Minutes, have updated this jackhammer narrative of mechanical failure and human error with an analysis of the current threats to our nuclear power plants. With a new introduction and epilogue for this reissue edition.

"This book is as explosive as the explosion it warns us about. It is as suspenseful as a good novel."—Studs Terkel

"A ripping thriller, made more compelling by the fact that it is true."—Jack Anderson, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

Centuries from now, when the Cold War is as remote as the War of Roses and the passions of our time have faded into footnotes, humanity will still remember July 16, 1969, the day the first human beings departed from earth bound for a landing on the moon. Angle of Attack turned out to be a story of ordinary people organized for an extraordinary purpose. It is an anthem to human cleverness, and it is a vivid reminder of what we are capable of when we choose to follow leaders with courage and vision.

The Grays continue with their sixth book in this series of 5 to 8 minute sketches.

(Lillenas Publications). Worship drama has become a viable tool for training and outreach. The Worship Drama Library Series is a premier collection of sketches to use as sermon starters or anytime a thought-provoking dramatic presentation is needed. While such scripts are often written without closure (allowing for a follow-up sermon), open-ended and resolved scripts are both provided, giving them greater versatility. Topics covered in this volume include: need for direction, death and afterlife, lifestyle evangelism, portrait of God, following Christ, admitting guilt, well-rounded people, missions, effects of fear, parental love, witnessing, and emotional healing.