"It was to this strange land that I was sent by the South American Missionary Society in the year 1890." Wilfred Barbrooke Grubb (1865-1930) was twenty-three years old when he was appointed to Paraguay into the Chaco region "to penetrate into the interior and investigate fully the numbers, location, and attitude of the various tribes." In this volume Grubb gives "an account of the life and customs of the Lengua Indians of the Paraguayan Chaco, with adventures and experiences met with during twenty years' pioneering and exploration amongst them." A vivid image of the Chaco region and its people is given by over sixty illustrations and photographs.

Sanora Babb’s long-hidden novel Whose Names Are Unknown tells an intimate story of the High Plains farmers who fled drought dust storms during the Great Depression. Written with empathy for the farmers’ plight, this powerful narrative is based upon the author’s firsthand experience. This clear-eyed and unsentimental story centers on the fictional Dunne family as they struggle to survive and endure while never losing faith in themselves. In the Oklahoma Panhandle, Milt, Julia, their two little girls, and Milt’s father, Konkie, share a life of cramped circumstances in a one-room dugout with never enough to eat. Yet buried in the drudgery of their everyday life are aspirations, failed dreams, and fleeting moments of hope. The land is their dream. The Dunne family and the farmers around them fight desperately for the land they love, but the droughts of the thirties force them to abandon their fields. When they join the exodus to the irrigated valleys of California, they discover not the promised land, but an abusive labor system arrayed against destitute immigrants. The system labels all farmers like them as worthless “Okies” and earmarks them for beatings and worse when hardworking men and women, such as Milt and Julia, object to wages so low they can’t possibly feed their children. The informal communal relations these dryland farmers knew on the High Plains gradually coalesce into a shared determination to resist. Realizing that a unified community is their best hope for survival, the Dunnes join with their fellow workers and begin the struggle to improve migrant working conditions through democratic organization and collective protest. Babb wrote Whose Names are Unknown in the 1930s while working with refugee farmers in the Farm Security Administration (FSA) camps of California. Originally from the Oklahoma Panhandle are herself, Babb, who had first come to Los Angeles in 1929 as a journalist, joined FSA camp administrator Tom Collins in 1938 to help the uprooted farmers. As Lawrence R. Rodgers notes in his foreword, Babb submitted the manuscript for this book to Random House for consideration in 1939. Editor Bennett Cerf planned to publish this “exceptionally fine” novel but when John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath swept the nation, Cerf explained that the market could not support two books on the subject. Babb has since shared her manuscript with interested scholars who have deemed it a classic in its own right. In an era when the country was deeply divided on social legislation issues and millions drifted unemployed and homeless, Babb recorded the stories of the people she greatly respected, those “whose names are unknown.” In doing so, she returned to them their identities and dignity, and put a human face on economic disaster and social distress.

The original uncut edition of STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND by Hugo Award winner Robert A Heinlein - one of the most beloved, celebrated science-fiction novels of all time. Epic, ambitious and entertaining, STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND caused controversy and uproar when it was first published and is still topical and challenging today. Twenty-five years ago, the first manned mission to Mars was lost, and all hands presumed dead. But someone survived... Born on the doomed spaceship and raised by the Martians who saved his life, Valentine Michael Smith has never seen a human being until the day a second expedition to Mars discovers him. Upon his return to Earth, a young nurse named Jill Boardman sneaks into Smith's hospital room and shares a glass of water with him, a simple act for her but a sacred ritual on Mars. Now, connected by an incredible bond, Smith, Jill and a writer named Jubal must fight to protect a right we all take for granted: the right to love.

Corbin recreates the life and world of a man about whom nothing is known except for his entries in the civil registries and historical knowledge about the times in which he lived: Louis-Francois Pinagot, a forester and clog maker who lived during the heart of the nineteenth century--the age of Romanticism, of Hugo and Berlioz--from the Napoleonic Wars to the Third Republic.

In 1994 up to one million people were killed in Rwanda in a deliberate, public and political campaign. For five years, Linda Melvern has worked on the story of this great crime, and this book, a classic piece of investigative journalism, is the result. The new and startling information this book contains has the making of an international scandal. Melvern reveals how the great powers failed to heed the warnings of the coming catastrophe, andrefused to recognize the genocide when it began, ignoring obligations under international law, specifically the genocide convention. A set of secret documents leaked to the author from within the Security Council proves that the circumstances of the genocide were suppressed or ignored.

The classic reference work that provides annually updated information on the countries of the world.

Explore the miracles of Jesus in Signs and Wonders with Amy-Jill Levine, Professor of New Testament studies and Bible study author. In Signs and Wonders: A Beginner’s Guide to the Miracles of Jesus, Amy-Jill Levine explores selected miracles of Jesus in historical and theological context. For each miracle, she discusses not only how past witnesses would have understood the events, but also how today’s readers can draw meaning from Jesus’s words and actions. Chapter topics include: Giving sight to the blind: Metaphors of understanding (Mark 8, John 9) “Take up your pallet and walk” (the paralyzed man): On the role of caregivers A bleeding woman and a dead girl: The importance of women’s bodies Walking on water and stilling the storm: Ecological readings of the Gospels The feeding of the 5,000 (or more): The centrality of bread The raising of Lazarus: Taking death seriously Components for the six-week study include a book, comprehensive Leader Guide, and DVD/Video sessions featuring Amy-Jill Levine. Praise for Signs and Wonders Amy-Jill Levine has the rare and wonderful gift of being able to offer solid exegetical work to readers with or without formal theological training as if she is sitting in your living room sharing a cup of tea. Throughout this book she calls us to the interpretive work, reminding us that the big question is not "did this happen?" but "what does it mean?" and ultimately "so what?" How can these old miracle stories speak good news to our lives in this time and place and invite our own healing and transformation along the way? – Rev. Dr. Richard Simpson, Canon to the Ordinary (Assistant to the Bishop), Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts Amy-Jill Levine is herself a sign and wonder, a sign that reading the New Testament through Jewish eyes is not just essential but revelatory, and a wonder, as she always writes with verve, wisdom, humor and rich insight. Her latest is hardly an exception, an accessible, fascinating book we welcome eagerly. – James Howell, Senior Pastor, Myers Park United Methodist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina With brilliant insight and trademark wit, Dr. Amy-Jill Levine reveals wondrous details of the most prominent miracles in the gospels. We become more than readers of these stories; we discover how to be recipients and participants in the ongoing, miraculous work of God. – Magrey R. deVega, Senior Pastor of Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, Florida, and author of The Bible Year: A Journey through Scripture in 365 Days What a rich and accessible resource for anyone who wants to grow their understanding of the Gospels and the claims they make about Jesus! AJ Levine teaches us how to learn from the miracle stories, marvel at them, worry about them, and respond to them in our own lives. – Matthew L. Skinner, Professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary Making space for the believer and skeptic alike, Levine masterfully connects the miracles of the God of Israel with the miracles of Jesus. From friends who clear the way, to a father who pleads for his daughter, to sisters who stand resolute, Levine invites the reader to cherish the helpers and the healed as much as we cherish the healer. Levine's willingness to authentically share portions of her own story reminds the reader of the ways the miraculous breaks into our own lives. –Rev. Dawn Taylor-Storm, Director of Connectional Ministry, Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, The United Methodist Church Amy-Jill Levine engages the miracles of Jesus with scholarly acumen and signature wit. Christians who have been confused by these stories will find new clarity in her comprehensive context, including corrective understandings of Judaism. Those who have been intimidated by these texts will be encouraged by her candor. Those who have been inspired by Jesus’ miracles will find even deeper dimensions of meaning in the practical, pastoral, theological, and literary levels she opens and the provocative issues raised, from food insecurity to gender assumptions. Levine presses the essential “so what?” question and challenges us to be changed by these stories – and to be amazed. – The Rev. Deborah A. Block, D.Min. Pastor, Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee