The Routledge Introduction to American Women Writers considers the key literary, historical, cultural, and intellectual contexts of American women authors from the seventeenth century to the present, and provides students with an analysis of the most up-to-date literary trends and debates in women s literature. This accessible and engaging guide covers a variety of essential topics such as:

• The origins of American women s writing
• The colonial period and the Puritans
• The early national period and the rhetoric of independence
• The 19th Century and the Civil War period
• The 20th Century, including Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance
• The 21st Century and the future of American women s writing
• Feminism, sexuality, regionalism, domesticity, ethnicity, and multiculturalism.

The volume examines the ways in which both canonical and lesser known women writers from diverse class and cultural backgrounds have shaped American literary traditions, addressing key contemporary and theoretical debates, and giving particular attention to the ways writers worked both inside, outside, and around the strictures of their cultural and historical moments to create a space for women's voices and experiences as a vital part of American life. This valuable introduction offers a readable, cohesive narrative of the development of literature by American women and a refreshing range of perspectives. It also includes bullet point summaries and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, making it particularly useful for students."

How do policy makers and managers square the circle of increasing demand and expectations for the delivery and quality of services against a backdrop of reduced public funding from government and philanthropists? Leaders, executives and managers are increasingly focusing on service operations improvement. In terms of research, public services are immature within the discipline of operations management, and existing knowledge is limited to government departments and large bureaucratic institutions. Drawing on a range of theory and frameworks, this book develops the research agenda, and knowledge and understanding in public service operations management, addressing the most pressing dilemmas faced by leaders, executives and operations managers in the public services environment. It offers a new empirical analysis of the impact of contextual factors, including the migration of planning systems founded on MRP/ERP and the adoption of industrial based improvement practices such as TQM, lean thinking and Six Sigma. This will be of interest to researchers, educators and advanced students in public management, service operations management, health service management and public policy studies.

How do policy makers and managers square the circle of increasing demand and expectations for the delivery and quality of services against a backdrop of reduced public funding from government and philanthropists? Leaders, executives and managers are increasingly focusing on service operations improvement. In terms of research, public services are immature within the discipline of operations management, and existing knowledge is limited to government departments and large bureaucratic institutions. Drawing on a range of theory and frameworks, this book develops the research agenda, and knowledge and understanding in public service operations management, addressing the most pressing dilemmas faced by leaders, executives and operations managers in the public services environment. It offers a new empirical analysis of the impact of contextual factors, including the migration of planning systems founded on MRP/ERP and the adoption of industrial based improvement practices such as TQM, lean thinking and Six Sigma. This will be of interest to researchers, educators and advanced students in public management, service operations management, health service management and public policy studies.

The Routledge Introduction to American Women Writers considers the key literary, historical, cultural, and intellectual contexts of American women authors from the seventeenth century to the present, and provides students with an analysis of the most up-to-date literary trends and debates in women s literature. This accessible and engaging guide covers a variety of essential topics such as:

• The origins of American women s writing
• The colonial period and the Puritans
• The early national period and the rhetoric of independence
• The 19th Century and the Civil War period
• The 20th Century, including Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance
• The 21st Century and the future of American women s writing
• Feminism, sexuality, regionalism, domesticity, ethnicity, and multiculturalism.

The volume examines the ways in which both canonical and lesser known women writers from diverse class and cultural backgrounds have shaped American literary traditions, addressing key contemporary and theoretical debates, and giving particular attention to the ways writers worked both inside, outside, and around the strictures of their cultural and historical moments to create a space for women's voices and experiences as a vital part of American life. This valuable introduction offers a readable, cohesive narrative of the development of literature by American women and a refreshing range of perspectives. It also includes bullet point summaries and suggestions for further reading at the end of each chapter, making it particularly useful for students."

Coming Home is a book that fictionally completes the stories of two men in the Bible. The first gives insight into Jesus' parable of what we know as the Prodigal (or Lost) Son, explaining the thoughts of the son, his brother, and his father in Luke 15:11-32. Jesus begins this parable with the words, "A certain man had two sons." The main character is Jakobi, and I have added information into the lives of his entire family. This parable could have been about someone's family in the crowd of listeners in Jericho. Jesus wanted the listeners to finish the parable in their own way, so this story was left unfinished. I developed an ending regarding the two sons, the feelings of the parents, an explanation as to why the younger son left home and later returned, and the feelings of the elder son.

The second story, "Bartimaeus," concerns the healing of a blind man in Mark 10:46-52. The Bible does not give this man's age, but allows us to understand that he once had sight. Many of the healed biblical figures were not always named, yet we read he is the son of Timaeus. When Jesus asked what he wanted from Him, he responded that he wanted to regain his sight. How did he become blind in the first place, and what happened after Jesus healed him?

I pray you'll enjoy Coming Home, as I tried to finish their stories and future lives following their return home. "The author uses her creative imagination to fill in the missing information of several Bible stories, without violating the integrity of the stories. As a pastor, I recommend this book to all." -Reverend James A. and Maryann Roma Wintergreen Ledges Church of God, Akron, Ohio

I have always wondered why the Bible does not give names to certain of its characters. Scripture would stress "a certain man" instead of naming the man, or not give names to the people the Lord Jesus healed. It is noted that some names were of importance to the stories, while others only needed to be acknowledged as those who were healed.

For instance, Naaman the Syrian leper had an unnamed wife. The nameless leper who was healed (along with nine other men) returned to say thanks to Jesus for his miraculous healing. We know that nothing is said about him after his healing. There is also the man healed beside the pool at Bethesda by Jesus and, again, what happened to him after the priests and scribes questioned his healing on the Sabbath?

Hence, in the first story, Naaman's wife and her little maid now have names and a history. In the second story, I continued the leper's story as he relates it years later to his daughter-in-law. The third story gives a bit more insight to the character of the man who was healed by Jesus at the Pool of Bethzatha.

LSW