Hindu tantric text on Tripurasundarī, Hindu deity.

The esoteric Hindu traditions of Tantrism have profoundly influenced the development of Indian thought and civilization. Emerging from elements of yoga and wisdom traditions, shamanism, alchemy, eroticism, and folklore, Tantrism began to affect brahmanical Hinduism in the ninth century. Nevertheless, Tantrism and its key historical figures have been ignored by scholars. This accessible work introduces the concepts and practices of Hindu Sakta Tantrism to all those interested in Hinduism and the comparative study of religion.

The city of Belfast tends to be discussed in terms of its distinctiveness from the rest of Ireland, an industrial city in an agricultural country. However, when compared with another 'British' industrial port such as Bristol it is the similarities rather than the differences that are surprising. When these cities are compared with Dublin, the contrasts become even more painfully evident. This book seeks to explore these contrasting urban centres at the start of the twentieth century.

The “king of hardcore action” (Brad Thor, New York Times bestselling author) and New York Times and #1 international bestselling author weaves a breathless thriller starring Jack West, Jr. that’s “a clever mix of history, mythology, and geography” (Associated Press). A shadow world behind the real world… When Jack West, Jr. won the Great Games, he threw the four legendary kingdoms into turmoil. A world with its own history, rules and prisons… Now these dark forces are coming after Jack...in ruthless fashion. That is reaching into our world—explosively… With the end of all things rapidly approaching, Jack must find the Three Secret Cities, three incredible lost cities of legend. It’s an impossible task by any reckoning, but Jack must do it while he is being hunted...by the greatest hunters in history. With Matthew Reilly’s signature “wave after wave of nonstop action” (Booklist), The Three Secret Cities is an electrifying rollercoaster ride of a thriller.

Monstrous beasts, lost worlds, vanished civilizations, Amazon warriors, even Atlantis and Noahs ark figure in this wondrous and rare book. Hard to find in print before now, this obscure 1952 work is an artifact itself, of the postwar fascination with all things mysterious, from flying saucers to ancient astronauts to the third eye. In this wildly entertainingand more than a little bit preposterousdocument, Wilkins takes us from mountain jungles to unexplored swamps on a search for the hidden secrets of old South America. Seekers after the arcane and fans of the paranormal will delight in this odd and extraordinary volume. British journalist and historian HAROLD T. WILKINS (18911960) is also the author of Mysteries of Ancient South America (1945) and Mysteries of Time and Space (1958).

The New York Times Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book of 2022 Named one of Vanity Fair's “Best Books of 2022” “Not since Robert Caro’s Years of Lyndon Johnson have I been so riveted by a work of history. Secret City is not gay history. It is American history.” —George Stephanopoulos Washington, D.C., has always been a city of secrets. Few have been more dramatic than the ones revealed in James Kirchick’s Secret City. For decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers, and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gay men and lesbians from the federal government. In the fevered atmosphere of political Washington, the secret “too loathsome to mention” held enormous, terrifying power. Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with over one hundred people, and material unearthed from presidential libraries and archives around the country, Secret City is a chronicle of American politics like no other. Beginning with the tragic story of Sumner Welles, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s brilliant diplomatic advisor and the man at the center of “the greatest national scandal since the existence of the United States,” James Kirchick illuminates how homosexuality shaped each successive presidential administration through the end of the twentieth century. Cultural and political anxiety over gay people sparked a decades-long witch hunt, impacting everything from the rivalry between the CIA and the FBI to the ascent of Joseph McCarthy, the struggle for Black civil rights, and the rise of the conservative movement. Among other revelations, Kirchick tells of the World War II–era gay spymaster who pioneered seduction as a tool of American espionage, the devoted aide whom Lyndon Johnson treated as a son yet abandoned once his homosexuality was discovered, and how allegations of a “homosexual ring” controlling Ronald Reagan nearly derailed his 1980 election victory. Magisterial in scope and intimate in detail, Secret City will forever transform our understanding of American history.