Dr. Luvelle Brown has shifted the hearts and minds of our community to accept new ideas in public education through his inspirational leadership. He is a visionary leader who effects positive change in our children's lives. He possesses all the essential leadership gifts and readily displays them in this thought-provoking work. A Culture of Love speaks to the leadership gift of empowerment-enabling others to feel the difference. And, it profoundly speaks to the gift of love- care and compassion lending to a sense of significance, finding meaning in contribution.

Talk of love surrounds us, and romance is a constant concern of popular culture. Ann Swidler's Talk of Love is an attempt to discover how people find and sustain real love in the midst of that talk, and how that culture of love shapes their expectations and behavior in the process. To this end, Swidler conducted extensive interviews with Middle Americans and wound up offering us something more than an insightful exploration of love: Talk of Love is also a compelling study of how much culture affects even the most personal of our everyday experiences.

Love isn't a word used much in the business world. Business is too tough for love, right? Not necessarily. In Love-Based Culture, thought leader Ivo Nelson provides 10 love-based principles that will help you create happy customers, energize employees, and enjoy rich year-to-year revenue growth, all while steering your business away from fear and toward love.The no-brainer steps in this book are based on Ivo's experiences as CEO of Healthlink, which he, along with contributing author and Healthlink COO Dana Sellers, grew into one of the world's largest healthcare information technology consulting firms by the time it was acquired by IBM. These principles aren't sugarcoated, but they're served up alongside heartfelt anecdotes in Ivo's down-to-earth Texan grit. 10 Principles of a Love-Based Culture100% REFERENCEABILITYBecome obsessed with a bold, customer-centered goal.LEADERSHIPPut your employees' needs ahead of your own.CORE VALUESBe uncompromising in living core values daily.A HIGHER CALLINGHave purpose beyond profits.GOVERNANCEFocus on long-term growth.COMPENSATIONReward those who add value.WINNINGFeel the buzz of success.THE THREE Ps: POLICIES, PROCESSES, and PROCEDURES Hardwire processes to trust.DECISION-MAKINGEmpower those closest to the customer to do what's right.ACTS OF LOVEShow that you care.Stop accepting fear and chronic stress as necessary evils in the tough world of business. Great leaders show compassion for their employees, have core values they live every day, and meet their shareholders' expectations. Leaders of love-based companies care about their employees and give them a place to work where they can make a difference.Let's get started. We've got a lot of love to do.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER To get ahead today, you have to be a jerk, right? Divisive politicians. Screaming heads on television. Angry campus activists. Twitter trolls. Today in America, there is an “outrage industrial complex” that prospers by setting American against American, creating a “culture of contempt”—the habit of seeing people who disagree with us not as merely incorrect, but as worthless and defective. Maybe, like more than nine out of ten Americans, you dislike it. But hey, either you play along, or you’ll be left behind, right? Wrong. In Love Your Enemies, social scientist and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller From Strength to Strength Arthur C. Brooks shows that abuse and outrage are not the right formula for lasting success. Brooks blends cutting-edge behavioral research, ancient wisdom, and a decade of experience leading one of America’s top policy think tanks in a work that offers a better way to lead based on bridging divides and mending relationships. Brooks’ prescriptions are unconventional. To bring America together, we shouldn’t try to agree more. There is no need for mushy moderation, because disagreement is the secret to excellence. Civility and tolerance shouldn’t be our goals, because they are hopelessly low standards. And our feelings toward our foes are irrelevant; what matters is how we choose to act. Love Your Enemies offers a clear strategy for victory for a new generation of leaders. It is a rallying cry for people hoping for a new era of American progress. Most of all, it is a roadmap to arrive at the happiness that comes when we choose to love one another, despite our differences.

A series of interconnected essays on love and courtship as themes in Dutch art, this study examines pictorial subjects and artists that have never been considered together: paintings and prints of "garden parties" by David Vinckboons and Esaias van de Velde, merry companies by Willem Buytewech, paintings of courting couples observing peasant festivities by Jan Miense Molenaer, two portraits by Frans Hals and two important landscape etchings by Rembrandt. Nevitt places these works in the context of the culture of love at the time, which manifested itself in the social practices of courtship and a variety of amatory texts.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Julia's story of her transformative years in France in her own words is "captivating ... her marvelously distinctive voice is present on every page.” (San Francisco Chronicle). Although she would later singlehandedly create a new approach to American cuisine with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, Julia Child was not always a master chef. Indeed, when she first arrived in France in 1948 with her husband, Paul, who was to work for the USIS, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself. But as she dove into French culture, buying food at local markets and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu, her life changed forever with her newfound passion for cooking and teaching. Julia’s unforgettable story—struggles with the head of the Cordon Bleu, rejections from publishers to whom she sent her now-famous cookbook, a wonderful, nearly fifty-year long marriage that took the Childs across the globe—unfolds with the spirit so key to Julia’s success as a chef and a writer, brilliantly capturing one of America’s most endearing personalities.

An exploration of the continuing appeal of vampires in cultural and social history. Our enduring love of vampires—the bad boys (and girls) of paranormal fantasy—has persisted for centuries. Despite being bloodthirsty, heartless killers, vampire stories commonly carry erotic overtones that are missing from other paranormal or horror stories. Even when monstrous teeth are sinking into pale, helpless throats—especially then—vampires are sexy. But why? In A History Of The Vampire In Popular Culture, author Violet Fenn takes the reader through the history of vampires in “fact” and fiction, their origins in mythology and literature, and their enduring appeal on TV and film. We’ll delve into the sexuality--and sexism--of vampire lore, as well as how modern audiences still hunger for a pair of sharp fangs in the middle of the night.