Forging Character examines the interplay between unmet desires and interpersonal relationships. Our desires create opportunities to connect with God. Every desire comes with a choice: to respond with Faith, Manipulation, Greed, or Apathy. Faith is managing desire appropriately by choosing to trust. Manipulation is attempting to control others in order to avoid disappointment. Greed is seeking to control the gratification of our desires independently. Finally, Apathy is the loss of desire, experienced when we give up any hope of fulfillment. The manner in which we choose to handle desires influences our character, either cultivating Christlikeness and fulfillment, or leading towards anxiety, addiction, or depression. When we take our wounds and healing seriously and fix our gaze upon the example of Christ, we become strengthened in faith and character.

Broad and balanced in perspective--and reader-friendly in format and design--this collection of authoritative readings focuses on the various forces, ideologies, people, and experiences that have forged the distinctive American character. Drawn from an extensive and impressive variety of historical sources--including popular history journals, chapters from key books, and scholarly journals--coverage ranges from traditional fields such as historiography and political, cultural, diplomatic, and religious history, to the new social and women's history.

Gifted with metahuman powers in a world full of capes and villains, Tori Rivas kept away from the limelight, preferring to work as a thief in the shadows. But when she's captured trying to rob a vault that belongs to a secret guild of villains, she's offered a hard choice: prove she has what it takes to join them or be eliminated. Apprenticed to one of the world's most powerful (and supposedly dead) villains, she is thrust into a strange world where the lines that divide superheroes and criminals are more complex than they seem. The education of a villain is not an easy one, and Tori will have to learn quickly if she wants to survive. On top of the peril she faces from her own teacher, there are also the capes and fellow apprentices to worry about, to say nothing of having to keep up a civilian cover. Most dangerous of all, though, are those who loathe the guild's very existence. Old grudges mean some are willing to go to any length to see the guild turned to ash, along with each one of its members. Even the lowly apprentices.

Broad and balanced in perspective--and reader-friendly in format and design--this collection of authoritative readings focuses on the various forces, ideologies, people, and experiences that have forged the distinctive American character. Drawn from an extensive and impressive variety of historical sources--including popular history journals, chapters from key books, and scholarly journals--coverage ranges from traditional fields such as historiography and political, cultural, diplomatic, and religious history, to the new social and women's history.

Scientific Characters chronicles the contests over character, knowledge, trust, and truth in a politically charged scientific controversy that erupted after a 1994 Chicago Tribune headline: "Fraud in Breast Cancer Research: Doctor Lied on Data for Decade." Moving back and forth between news coverage, medical journals, letters to the editor, and oncology pamphlets, Lisa Keränen draws insights from rhetoric, literary studies, sociology, and science studies to analyze the roles of character in shaping the outcomes of the "Datagate" controversy.

_______________Rediscover the worlds of Emberfall and Syhl Shallow in this irresistible return to Brigid Kemmerer's New York Times bestselling Cursebreaker series._______________Tycho of Rillisk has been a lot of things: son and brother, stablehand, prisoner, soldier and friend to the king. Now, four years after Grey took the throne of Emberfall, Tycho has taken on a new role: courier and spy. As the only person the king can trust, Tycho carries secret messages back and forth between the kingdoms of Emberfall and Syhl Shallow.But even though the war is over, peace still seems far away. A dangerous anti-magical faction is rising, and when Tycho discovers a plot to assassinate Grey and Queen Lia Mara, ruler of Syhl Shallow, he must fight for everything he believes in.Nothing here is as it seems, and after a devastating betrayal, it becomes clear that the danger is only just beginning ...

For lovers of sci-fi thrillers, alien invasion stories, space opera, and sprawling first contact science fiction, this is an unforgettable post-apocalyptic epic about perseverance and survival in a harsh new world where humanity is just another item on the menu... First Contact doesn't go as anyone expected. Now they own us. The Legend of ZERO: Forging Zero is the epic journey of 14-year-old Joe Dobbs in a post-apocalyptic universe following a massive galactic empire's invasion of Earth. The oldest of the children drafted from humanity’s devastated planet, Joe is impressed into service by the alien Congressional Ground Force—and becomes the unwitting centerpiece in a millennia-long alien struggle for independence. Once his training begins, one of the elusive and prophetic Trith appears to give Joe a spine chilling prophecy that the universe has been anticipating for millions of years: Joe will be the one to finally shatter the vast alien government known as Congress. And the Trith cannot lie.… But first Joe has to make it through bootcamp.