America has always been committed to the idea that citizens can work together to build a common world. Today, three afflictions keep us from pursuing that noble ideal. The first and most obvious affliction is identity politics, which seeks to transform America by turning politics into a religious venue of sacrificial offering. For now, the sacrificial scapegoat is the white, heterosexual, man. After he is humiliated and purged, who will be the object of cathartic rage? White women? Black men? Identity politics is the anti-egalitarian spiritual eugenics of our age. It demands that pure and innocent groups ascend, and the stained transgressor groups be purged. The second affliction is that citizens oscillate back and forth, in bipolar fashion, at one moment feeling invincible on their social media platforms and, the next, feeling impotent to face the everyday problems of life without the guidance of experts and global managers. Third, Americans are afflicted by a disease that cannot quite be named, characterized by an addictive hope that they can find cheap shortcuts that bypass the difficult labors of everyday life. Instead of real friendship, we seek social media “friends.” Instead of meals at home, we order “fast food.” Instead of real shopping, we “shop” online. Instead of counting on our families and neighbors to address our problems, we look to the state to take care of us. In its many forms, this disease promises release from our labors, yet impoverishes us all. American Awakening chronicles all of these problems, yet gives us hope for the future.

A healthy and united America--perhaps a country more united than it has ever been--is truly possible, and it starts with us. John Kingston draws on wisdom from history, science, faith, and culture, along with his own experiences, to offer eight principles for discovering purpose, meaning, and true community. We live in the greatest peace and prosperity that the world has ever known, but Americans are feeling more division, isolation, depression, and despair than ever before. These are issues of the soul. We seem unable to find purpose and meaning. We can't find "the life that is truly life"--a vibrant and purpose-filled way of living best experienced together. From his youth, Kingston has always carried a vision for a free and united America. With an approachable and conversational style, as well as a dash of humor, Kingston draws on a diverse and compelling collection of wisdom--the parables of the Bible and the philosophy of Aristotle, the legacy of Nelson Mandela and the speeches of Abraham Lincoln, the songs of Bruce Springsteen and current studies from the best neuro and social scientists today--to remind us that there is no "them," there is only us, and we're in this together. In American Awakening, Kingston offers eight timeless principles for breaking through this darkness and despair and cultivating a radical togetherness, both here in this country and around the globe. You'll discover the profound impact of: In-person connection Making more from less Discovering purpose Redeeming adversity Responding instead of reacting Finding your unique sense of belonging Wherever you find yourself politically or spiritually, a healthy and united America starts with you. Join the Awakening movement and let's rediscover who we are--together.

Is spiritual awakening and revival possible to have in our nation and our own lives? Absolutely! We can make a difference for God and leave a lasting legacy. As we obey God and choose to move forward in unity, prayer, fasting and a deeper commitment to God, we will begin again to turn a tide that seems impossible. The prospect of making a difference in the world can seem daunting. As Christians, we are called to influence the world around us and bring back a love for God and His Word. Author Kari Bitz brings alive the principles of living a victorious life that many seem to have forgotten. Her comprehensive view of Biblical principles will inspire anyone to refresh their own walk with the Lord, and influence the world around us. We can be the beacon of light that God desires for us to be. We all know people that need Jesus. We must reach them. Join Kari Bitz for an incredible journey of spiritual growth, and learn how you can be a part of starting the awakening that we and our country desperately need. Will we turn the tide together?

This little handbook for America illustrates a journey on the spiritual path that sets a clear course into discovery. As we peruse its pages we begin to feel the author’s joyful certainty that a sincere dedication to find the truth will bear fruit for all who are willing to seek it. The author’s vision is that America finds in the spiritual path a new dream of liberty that is reachable! A sweet pure love for America pours through the author’s experiences with the deep conviction that America is so glorious that she can transcend beyond politics as usual and that America herself carries forward her flag of honor. We all reap the glory of our sacred founding documents as we catch this vision. Through the story of the author’s committed spiritual quest are discussions of Ascended Masters, reincarnation, revelation, body cleansing, communion, and how to cope with energy projections, all explored as tools toward spiritual seasoning. It appears that spiritual enlightenment can come through a careful personal cultivation of harmony and peace. This book ushers in a spiritual renewal for America.

The election of America’s first black president has led many to believe that race is no longer a real obstacle to success and that remaining racial inequality stems largely from the failure of minority groups to take personal responsibility for seeking out opportunities. Often this argument is made in the name of the long tradition of self-reliance and American individualism. In Awakening to Race, Jack Turner upends this view, arguing that it expresses not a deep commitment to the values of individualism, but a narrow understanding of them. Drawing on the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, and James Baldwin, Turner offers an original reconstruction of democratic individualism in American thought. All these thinkers, he shows, held that personal responsibility entails a refusal to be complicit in injustice and a duty to combat the conditions and structures that support it. At a time when individualism is invoked as a reason for inaction, Turner makes the individualist tradition the basis of a bold and impassioned case for race consciousness—consciousness of the ways that race continues to constrain opportunity in America. Turner’s “new individualism” becomes the grounds for concerted public action against racial injustice.

Black Awakening in Capitalist America is a classic study of the Black liberation movement of the 1960s. Examining Black Power and black capitalism, the student and radical movements, nationalists and integrationists, Allen argues that Black America, hemmed in by racism, constitutes an underdeveloped, domestic colony within the United States. Black Awakening in Capitalist America is essential reading to understand the origins and development of the contemporary black struggle for freedom.

The First Great Awakening, an unprecedented surge in Protestant Christian revivalism in the Eighteenth Century, sparked enormous of controversy at the time and has been a source of scholarly debate ever since. Few historians have sought to write a synthetic history of the First Great Awakening, and in recent decades it has been challenged as having happened at all, being either an exaggeration or an “invention.” The First Great Awakening expands the movement’s geographical, theological, and sociopolitical scope. Rather than focus exclusively on the clerical elites, as earlier studies have done, it deals with them alongside ordinary people, and includes the experiences of women, African Americans, and Indians as the observers and participants they were. It challenges prevailing scholarly opinion concerning what the revivals were and what they meant to the formation of American religious identity and culture. Cover image: NPG 131, George Whitefield by John Wollaston, oil on canvas, circa 1742. © National Portrait Gallery, London