Originally published by the Standard Bank as part of a curated exhibition in May 2011, this prestigious volume celebrates the life and works of Peter Clarke (1929–2014), one of South Africa’s foremost artists. A mere 500 copies were originally published, all taken up at the exhibition, and continued demand has led to its re-release. Clarke left his job as a dockworker in Simon’s Town to devote himself to art. The wisdom of this decision is reflected in a remarkable career, which extended over some six decades and was acknowledged in the awards of the Order of Ikhamanga (silver) in 2005 and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. Listening to distant thunder: The art of Peter Clarke recounts an artist’s life in the context of the social history of South Africa from the 1940s onwards. His images reflect the social disruption of the Cape Flats, and the trauma of his community’s forced removal from Simon’s Town to the bleak apartheid township of Ocean View. Yet Clarke’s images have avoided bitterness, and his work is a perceptive scrutiny and celebration of life in all its aspects. Illustrated with over 200 reproductions and photographs, this book was researched and written by well-known South African art historians Philippa Hobbs and Elizabeth Rankin, in close collaboration with the artist over almost seven years.

Our young people are dying, constantly being murdered by senseless acts of violence. They are dying in unprecedented numbers¾not on the battleground of foreign lands¾but in the schools¾and on the streets of their very own cities. RUMBLE OF DISTANT THUNDER is a story born out of love and compassion for these children. For already in the distance an ominous cloud has formed forecasting destruction, wars, and global famine for their future. No one seems to care enough and so, they are become the forgotten ones. Violence is robbing our youth of the simplicity of pleasure, their childhood. RUMBLE paves a way from such gloom that threatens to destroy our children and our society. It teaches self-respect and the value of human life. Within the first chapters, you will meet SOJOURNER, a star-ship that is one of the principal characters. Its primary function is to travel the galaxies, while monitoring the "Chosen Ones" stationed throughout the universe. You will meet Darius; a seventeen-year-old inner?city youth who is forced to ward off everyday events that threatens his survival. Through a series of events and prophecies, he learns that there is a special call on his life—and an inescapable destiny. Young Darius and his friends have seen the results of living in such a violent and moralless society. He has seen childhood friends senselessly gunned down, others trying to escape by way of drugs, leaving to mourn their shattered lives friends and loved ones. Darius is troubled and saddened by all that is happening around him. Powerless to do anything about it for the moment, he pledges that somehow, he WILL make a difference. The unsuspecting youth learns through an age?old prophecy that he is a prince and direct descendant of the Wantu?Wazuri, a supremely advanced race that had once visited our world over twelve thousand years ago. In their observation of human development, they were overwhelmed with concern for the children they were to leave behind. Upon their departure, they endowed the lives of these children with positive effects and indelible marks of more advanced and intelligent civilizations. Unbeknownst to Darius the prophecy is unfolding itself. Elsewhere in the Universe, the Council of Elders are convening and collectively using their telepathic powers to summon and prepare him for the leadership of his people. As Darius’ appointed time draws near, he begins to speak out of love and self?respect to all that will listen, while Jamaal, a young, ruthless killer, and leader of a powerful drug?gang, is determined to protect his own interests. The escalating violence surrounding him continues to fill Darius with questions as he struggles to understand why, and the call on his life. Through Ganna, his spiritual guardian and mentor, Darius knows he must accept his fate. The decision to leave Earth even temporarily is tough, but he knows that if his world is to survive at all, he must go. Arriving with his family and some of his closest friends on Wantu?Wazuria, the Central Seat of government for the vast, expanding empire, the struggle intensifies as Efuru, the evil and manipulating wife of the late Emperor Nkombe?the?Great, attempts to thwart his ascension to the throne. This humble, yet lion?hearted youth learns that for the last five hundred years, the Wantu?Wazurians were peaceful and prosperous people. Now, after the Emperor´s death, his wife fights to have her evil and treacherous son rule, despite the prophecies that the throne would be torn from her grasps and given to an off?worlder. Ignoring the ancient prophecies, Efuru continues her campaign for her son´s rights against the Will of God and the Council of Elders who had refused to reinstate him honoring the request of his father on his deathbed. Prince Naamesis, extremely bitter over that decision, rebels and leads a revolt against Darius. But while on Khorsabad, a world outside the Empire, he is killed during an assas

DVD contains 30 minutes of video excerpts and 16 audio tracks, keyed to the text.

Katie Stuckey and Jonas Weaver are both romantics. Seventeen-year-old Katie is starry-eyed, in love with the idea of being in love, and does not want to wait to marry Jonas until she is eighteen, despite her parents' insistence. So much can happen in a year. Twenty-year-old Jonas is taken in by the romance of soldiering, especially in defense of anti-slavery, even though he knows war is at odds with the teachings of the church. When his married brother's name comes up in the draft list, he volunteers to take his brother's place. But can the commitment Katie and Jonas have made to each other survive the separation? From the talented pen of Jan Drexler comes this brand new Amish series set against the backdrop of the Civil War. She puts her characters to the test as they struggle to reconcile their convictions and desires while the national conflict threatens to undermine and engulf their community.

The prophet Ezekiel was never taken seriously when he predicted the destruction of Israel's enemies, but unfortunately for them, he was right. The truth of Ezekiel's words will soon be felt by the entire modern world, and it seems chaos will reign supreme. In the midst of the ensuing mayhem, Pastor Ty Dempsey arises as the man who is able to connect the dots of modern day occurrences with the prophecies of the ancient scriptures. Meanwhile, Israeli F-16 "Lightning" pilot Moshe Eldan begins to discover the truth of those same prophecies in his daily dealing with terrorists. Dempsey and Eldan will learn that they are part of a bigger plan. However, they are not alone. This thriller provides an answer to an age-old question: What would happen if the entire world turned on Israel? This story provides the first installment of a fast-paced, electrifying read called The Lightning Chronicles. It is filled with all the action and adventure that usually accompanies the last day events of the prophesied end of the world. "In Distant Thunder, Jimmy Root Jr. brings to life a story as relevant as tomorrow's newspaper, built on a foundation as ancient as a 2,500 year old prophecy. This fast-paced narrative brings the reader into a world of human intrigue and spiritual revelation." Robert Whitlow NY Times Bestselling Author of Deeper Water "Zip up your G suit and strap in tight! This is a prophetic thriller I could not put down." Randy Reed USAF (Ret) F-15 Eagle Pilot Distant Thunder is "a well-written chilling yarn that will make you eager to stick around and enjoy the read!" Norm Goldman BookPleasures.com

Arguing for the importance of the aural dimension of history, Mark M. Smith contends that to understand what it meant to be northern or southern, slave or free--to understand sectionalism and the attitudes toward modernity that led to the Civil War--we must consider how antebellum Americans comprehended the sounds and silences they heard. Smith explores how northerners and southerners perceived the sounds associated with antebellum developments including the market revolution, industrialization, westward expansion, and abolitionism. In northern modernization, southern slaveholders heard the noise of the mob, the din of industrialism, and threats to what they considered their quiet, orderly way of life; in southern slavery, northern abolitionists and capitalists heard the screams of enslaved labor, the silence of oppression, and signals of premodernity that threatened their vision of the American future. Sectional consciousness was profoundly influenced by the sounds people attributed to their regions. And as sectionalism hardened into fierce antagonism, it propelled the nation toward its most earsplitting conflict, the Civil War.