From literature, history, film study, philosophy, social work, theology, pedagogy, psychology, gender studies, and music, hope is here. If you find hope important, this volume is essential.

The deepest desires of the heart are explored through Psalms that teach us lessons of life from the beauty of a garden . . . that help us discover the beacon of guidance from a lighthouse . . . that encourage us to celebrate the wonder of love. The stunning imagery and poetic expressions of the Psalms have inspired and transformed the hearts of countless souls through the centuries. Now Honor Books, the leading publisher of gift devotionals, has added exquisite full-color art and heart-stirring prayers with selections from best-loved Psalms. In the unwavering beam of the lighthouse, we discover the hope and direction God brings to our lives. For thousands of years readers have looked to the Psalms for the comfort of knowing that God is lighting their path and leading them in His grace and mercy. Readers will find devotionals on Direction, Protection, Hope, and God's Care and Guidance. Each devotion will provide daily insight and inspiration.

The America you thought you knew is gone. No longer is this a nation based on godly principles and morality. America is following its leaders willingly into economic, moral, and political decline. What are Christians to do? Erwin Lutzer offers hope and a challenge to Christians. It is not time to despair even as we face these difficult realities. Two thousand years of church history are behind us to show that the church does not need freedom or ease in order to be faithful. God’s calling on His people can be fulfilled no matter what. Dr. Lutzer calls Christians to be agents of change in these increasingly secular times, and he offers hope and direction. As the nation morphs, Christians are called to adjust, to be faithful ambassadors for Christ in a country where many are turning away from Him.

How do we remain optimistic when the world seems to be falling apart around us? In these intimate essays, the author leads the reader on an inspirational journey to find answers and hope in troubled times. The book includes incisive commentaries on terrorism, good and evil, and aging and death that provide a new perspective on approaching the world with hope. The lyrical reflections on poetry and friendship highlight how such spiritual pursuits are the wellsprings of hope in dark times. Each essay suggests ways in which anyone can connect their personal search for strength, wisdom, and hope to the collective desire to bring about a just, humane, and caring society.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Barack Obama’s lucid vision of America’s place in the world and call for a new kind of politics that builds upon our shared understandings as Americans, based on his years in the Senate “In our lowdown, dispiriting era, Obama’s talent for proposing humane, sensible solutions with uplifting, elegant prose does fill one with hope.”—Michael Kazin, The Washington Post In July 2004, four years before his presidency, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners’ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Obama called “the audacity of hope.” The Audacity of Hope is Barack Obama’s call for a different brand of politics—a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the “endless clash of armies” we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of “our improbable experiment in democracy.” He explores those forces—from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media—that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment. At the heart of this book is Barack Obama’s vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats—from terrorism to pandemic—that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracy—where it is vital and where it must never intrude. Underlying his stories is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, Obama says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Those Americans are out there, he writes—“waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”

The Politics of Hope and The Bitter Heritage brings together two important books that bracket the tempestuous politics of 1960s America. In The Politics of Hope, which historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., published in 1963 while serving as a special assistant to President Kennedy, Schlesinger defines the liberalism that characterized the Kennedy administration and the optimistic early Sixties. In lively and incisive essays, most of them written between 1956 and 1960, on topics such as the basic differences underlying liberal and conservative politics, the writing of history, and the experience of Communist countries, Schlesinger emphasizes the liberal thinker's responsibility to abide by goals rather than dogma, to learn from history, and to look to the future. Four years later, following Kennedy's assassination and the escalation of America's involvement in Vietnam, Schlesinger's tone changes. In The Bitter Heritage, a brief but penetrating appraisal of the "war that nobody wanted," he recounts America's entry into Vietnam, the history of the war, and its policy implications. The Bitter Heritage concludes with an eloquent and sobering assessment of the war's threat to American democracy and a reflection on the lessons or legacies of the Vietman conflict. With a new foreword by Sean Wilentz, the James Madison Library edition of The Politics of Hope and The Bitter Heritage situates liberalism in the convulsive 1960s--and illuminates the challenges that still face liberalism today.

The second of a five volume set collecting all of Hodgson's published fiction. Each volume contains one of Hodgson's novels, along with a selection of thematically-linked short fiction.