Late antiquity was a perilous time for children, who were often the first victims of economic crisis, war, and disease. They had a one in three chance of dying before their first birthday, with as many as half dying before age ten. Christian writers accordingly sought to speak to the experience of bereavement and to provide cultural scripts for parents who had lost a child. These late ancient writers turned to characters like Eve and Sarah, Job and Jephthah as models for grieving and for confronting or submitting to the divine. Jephthah's Daughter, Sarah’s Son traces the stories these writers crafted and the ways in which they shaped the lived experience of familial bereavement in ancient Christianity. A compelling social history that conveys the emotional lives of people in the late ancient world, Jephthah's Daughter, Sarah's Son is a powerful portrait of mourning that extends beyond antiquity to the present day.

The brilliant new novel in the bestselling series by Penny, one of the most acclaimed crime writers of our time.

Between World War II and Vatican II, as Italy struggled to rebuild after decades of Mussolini’s fascism, an eleventh-century order of contemplative monks in the Apennines were urged by Thomas Merton to found a daughter house on the rugged coast of California. A brilliant but world-weary ex-Jesuit, who had recently withdrawn from a high-intensity public life to go into reclusion at the ancient Sacro Eremo of Camaldoli, was tapped for the job. Based on notes kept for over sixty years by an early American novice at New Camaldoli Hermitage, The Hermits of Big Sur tells the compelling story of what unfolds within this small and idealistic community when medievalism must finally come to terms with modernism. It traces the call toward fuga mundi in the young seekers who arrive to try their vocations, only to discover that the monastic life requires much more of them than a bare desire for solitude. And it describes the miraculous transformation that sometimes occurs in individual monks after decades of lectio divina, silent meditation, liturgical faithfulness, and the communal bonds they have formed through the practice of the “privilege of love.”

Medieval Lives c. 1000–1292: The World of the Beaugency Family is a gateway into Europe during the Central Middle Ages. Through charting the lives of the Beaugency family, this book delves into the history of Western Europe and explores the impact of the changes and events of the period on those who experienced them. The Central Middle Ages were years of profound transformation, and through the two centuries in which they lived the Beaugency family experienced many of the key developments that have characterized the period, such as the launch of the crusades and the emergence of the commercial economy. By following the lives of the family, this book instills a deeper understanding of the significance that human experience has on our ability to truly comprehend the crucial historical events of the age. It personalizes the history of the Middle Ages and provides students with a unique insight into the culture of the period. Containing maps, genealogical tables, over thirty images, a large collection of previously unpublished archival sources used throughout the book, and accompanied by a companion website with interactive features, Medieval Lives c. 1000–1292: The World of the Beaugency Family is a portal into the lives of the Beaugency family and an ideal introduction to the Central Middle Ages.

An authoritative portrait of the Latin-American warrior-statesman examines his life against a backdrop of the tensions of nineteenth-century South America, covering his achievements as a strategist, abolitionist, and diplomat.