Peter Goodchild's The Western Path is a witty and profound manual of how to get through the end of the world as we know it. Fossil fuels are running out and people will not stop breeding. The West lacks the vigor to live due to the self-injected poison of multiculturalism, globalism and open borders. Thus the end of comfort and leisure is nigh, and lacking a readily available propellant, the good times will literally stop rolling. The post-oil earth will be apocalyptic in terms of the sheer collapse of infrastructure, services and communications. "Back to the Stone Age" will cease to be a mere hollow phrase. Hunting, gathering, and - above all - farming will become the order of the day once more. Drawing from real-life experience, the author lays out in meticulous detail, referencing both the finances and work involved, what it takes to detach yourself from the rat race and set up a humble abode in Mother Nature's bosom and live off its bounty, all before the coming cataclysm that will wipe away the fatuous complexities of a society gone mad. Learning to struggle against everyday nuisances without modern-day amenities will be trying for most and only very few determined and true survival-minded individualists will manage to eke out an existence for themselves and their offspring.

A century of dealmaking and government misdeeds forms the backdrop of this entertaining account of sternwheelers, iron horses and mountain roads. Battling factions of rail builders crossed many a line in the sand as they carved up both the land and the spoils of industry. Did both federal and provincial politicians wittingly sabotage road-construction programs to the benefit of the rail barons? Were Cornelius Van Horne, Major A.B. Rogers and Andrew McCulloch fully deserving of the accolades bestowed on them? Was railway man J.J. Hill a genius or an opportunist? R.G. Harvey has applied a keen mind and deft pen to uncover skulduggery in politics and critical routing errors by the early surveyors and engineers who "carved their western paths." In turn he has exposed new scars and wrinkles to add to historic portraits otherwise untainted.

The history of British Columbia's transportation systems north of the Canadian National Railway's mainline may not be well known--but it certainly is colourful. Continuing the story he began in the first volume of Carving the Western Path, R.G. Harvey describes the development of river, road and rail routes that crossed the northern two-thirds of BC. This was a land of dreams and schemes that seemed to feed on each other. It started with the Collins Overland Telegraph, a communication link that was to connect Europe and America in the 1860s. Though this plan collapsed with the success of the trans-Atlantic cable, the telegraph surveyors established patterns for future roads and settlement. They also sparked the Omineca gold rush. It was a land full of larger-than-life characters, including: Charles Hays, who dreamed of a major seaport at Prince Rupert but died on the Titanic before he could realize his vision. Charles Bedaux, who in the 1930s carved his 416-mile path into the northern Rockies. Railway promoters Warburton Pike, Sir Edward Phillipps-Wolley, William Mackenzie and Donald Mann, who got gifts of land and money but couldn't always meet their promises. Their stories mingle with those of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, the Alaska Highway, the White Pass and Yukon Railway and those of the sternwheelers, fur traders, gold miners and other adventurers who were drawn to this last frontier.

Offering a recap of the tumultuous times and events citizens have lived through since Korea, The Metta Way: the Western Path of Lovingkindness, by author George Hondruk, shares how we can arrive together at a new spiritual framework for life on this planet, through an enlightened democracy and the Metta-Seva Way. Hondruk narrates the story of his life and times, woven within the seminal events of the Cold War, Civil Rights, his sexual naivete and confusion about what manhood should be, the war in Indochina, the peace movement, his retreat to normalcy, his stirring of spirit, the opioid epidemic, and the major figures of those times with whom he interacted. He tells how he discovered the Metta-Seva Way, a better way of living with lovingkindness as the base thought and emotion, with selfless service following naturally. Hondruk identifies it as our successful species survival tool. The Metta Way: the Western Path of Lovingkindness delivers the message that equality comes through diversity and inclusion and is both the history and destination of democracy, America, and all of us.

"The last public work of W.E. Butler before his death in 1978, this series of talks offers a fascinating, personal, and accessible course of training in the Western Mystery Schools by one of the world's great occultists. With humility, humor, and conviction, Butler conveys an extensive knowledge of the occult mysteries, including ritual and ceremonial magic, the awakening of the kundalini energy, and the path of the regeneration of the personality and the relinquishing of false ego through control of one's mental and emotional reactions."--back cover.

For the first time, an award-winning Harvard professor shares his wildly popular course on classical Chinese philosophy, showing you how ancient ideas—like the fallacy of the authentic self—can guide you on the path to a good life today. Why is a course on ancient Chinese philosophers one of the most popular at Harvard? Because it challenges all our modern assumptions about what it takes to flourish. Astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities. Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. In other words, The Path “opens the mind” (Huffington Post) and upends everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Its most radical idea is that there is no path to follow in the first place—just a journey we create anew at every moment by seeing and doing things differently. “With its…spirited, convincing vision, revolutionary new insights can be gleaned from this book on how to approach life’s multifarious situations with both heart and head” (Kirkus Reviews). A note from the publisher: To read relevant passages from the original works of Chinese philosophy, see our ebook Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi: Selected Passages, available wherever books are sold.

Begun as the United States moved its armed forces into Iraq, Rashid Khalidi's powerful and thoughtful new book examines the record of Western involvement in the region and analyzes the likely outcome of our most recent Middle East incursions. Drawing on his encyclopedic knowledge of the political and cultural history of the entire region as well as interviews and documents, Khalidi paints a chilling scenario of our present situation and yet offers a tangible alternative that can help us find the path to peace rather than Empire. We all know that those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Sadly, as Khalidi reveals with clarity and surety, America's leaders seem blindly committed to an ahistorical path of conflict, occupation, and colonial rule. Our current policies ignore rather than incorporate the lessons of experience. American troops in Iraq have seen first hand the consequences of U.S. led "democratization" in the region. The Israeli/Palestinian conflict seems intractable, and U.S. efforts in recent years have only inflamed the situation. The footprints America follows have led us into the same quagmire that swallowed our European forerunners. Peace and prosperity for the region are nowhere in sight. This cogent and highly accessible book provides the historical and cultural perspective so vital to understanding our present situation and to finding and pursuing a more effective and just foreign policy.