This is an American novel of formed chaos playfully enacting the centrality of language in late twentieth-century art and life through the voices of two women steeped in Western traditions, one telling the story of her restoration of an ante-bellum house on the Florida Gulf Coast, the other faithfully recording it but running culturally wild in the process. In both literal and extended senses, The Restorationist is a mystery, with attendant bafflements, horrors, attempts to get to the bottom of things: mayhem and murder; artifices of trivialization by media, our technological doubles; arrangements of power in communities and in texts; signs and selves.

The field of ecological restoration is a rapidly growing discipline that encompasses a wide range of activities and brings together practitioners and theoreticians from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives, ranging from volunteer backyard restorationists to highly trained academic scientists and professional consultants. Ecological Restoration offers for the first time a unified vision of ecological restoration as a field of study, one that clearly states the discipline’s precepts and emphasizes issues of importance to those involved at all levels. In a lively, personal fashion, the authors discuss scientific and practical aspects of the field as well as the human needs and values that motivate practitioners. The book: -identifies fundamental concepts upon which restoration is based -considers the principles of restoration practice -explores the diverse values that are fulfilled with the restoration of ecosystems -reviews the structure of restoration practice, including the various contexts for restoration work, the professional development of its practitioners, and the relationships of restoration with allied fields and activities A unique feature of the book is the inclusion of eight “virtual field trips,” short photo essays of project sites around the world that illustrate various points made in the book and are “led” by those who were intimately involved with the project described. Throughout, ecological restoration is conceived as a holistic endeavor, one that addresses issues of ecological degradation, biodiversity loss, and sustainability science simultaneously, and draws upon cultural resources and local skills and knowledge in restoration work.

The first installment in a thrilling series in which a global catastrophe puts a family’s survival at risk—and both reveals the darkness in human hearts and lights the way to restoration. Birmingham, Alabama, has lost all power. Its streets are jammed with cars that won’t start and its airport is engulfed in flames from burning planes. All communications—cell phones, computers, even radios—are silent. Every home and business is dark. Is it a natural disaster, a terrorist attack, or something far worse? In the face of a crisis that sweeps an entire high-tech planet back to a time before electricity, the Branning family faces a choice. Will they hoard their possessions in order to survive—or trust God to provide as they share their resources with those around them? Yesterday’s world is gone. Family and community are all that remain. And the outage is revealing the worst in some. Desperation can be dangerous—especially when a killer lives among them. Full-length suspense novel The exciting first book in the Restoration series: Book 1: Last Light Book 2: Night Light Book 3: True Light Book 4: Dawn’s Light Includes a note from the author and discussion questions for book clubs

The Royal Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III (744–727 BC) and Shalmaneser V (726–722 BC), Kings of Assyria (Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period 1) carries on where the Assyrian Periods sub-series of the Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia (RIM) Project ended. The volume provides reliable, up-to-date editions of seventy-three royal inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III and of his son and immediate successor Shalmaneser V, eleven late Neo-Assyrian inscriptions which may be attributed to one of those two eighth-century rulers, and eight texts commissioned by Assyrian queens and high-ranking officials. Following the style of the now-defunct RIM series, each text edition (with its English translation) is supplied with a brief introduction containing general information, a catalogue containing basic information about all exemplars, a commentary containing further technical information and notes, and a comprehensive bibliography. RINAP 1 also includes: (1) a general introduction to the reigns of Tiglath-pileser III and Shalmaneser V, the corpus of inscriptions, previous studies, and dating and chronology; (2) translations of the relevant passages of Mesopotamian king lists and chronicles; (3) several photographs of objects inscribed with texts of Tiglath-pileser III and Shalmaneser V; (4) indices of museum and excavation numbers and selected publications; and (5) indices of proper names (Personal Names; Geographic, Ethnic, and Tribal Names; Divine Names; Gate, Palace, and Temple Names; and Object Names). The RINAP Project is under the direction of G. Frame (University of Pennsylvania) and is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities.