On a balmy evening in late summer, a thickly wooded area near the shore of Lake Geneva is filling up with men. By the time the moon is high, the woods rustle with the quiet movements of some nine hundred, all armed. Pastor Arnaud addresses the blended group of Waldensian and Huguenot volunteers. If anyone is afraid of the rack and the gallows, he tells them, they should turn back. If they wish to go on, they should swear to fight faithfully to the death... Arnaud and the nine-hundred kneel and pray at the lake's edge. A low voice and the sound of water lapping fill the night. There are muted amen's, a shuffle, footsteps, and the swish of fifteen little boats pushing off from land. In To the Last Drop of Our Blood, Ann Burke sketches excerpts from the story of the Waldenses, a religious minority who for generations lived under the looming shadow of religion in power. This re-telling may very well bring to mind a number of questions: * Where freedom of faith is concerned, does it matter how right the majority is? * How important is a minority? * Is it better, as someone has said, for one man to die than for a whole nation to perish? The answers we give will largely determine our future.

It's been almost one hundred million years since an asteroid impact devastated Earth, leading to the extinction of biological humans. Their digital offspring survived and slowly colonized the galaxy, printing out bodies to build and maintain the network of computers that host their digital world. Perrin is a biological boy from Earth, learning how to maintain the eco-walls separating the ecosystems that digital humans have recreated on the planet. Cerelys is a PIP, a digital human girl with a hunger for the outside. When she introduces him to the dangerous world of the illegal story trade, the spark between them threatens to ignite the most explosive chain of events in a hundred million years.

This book deals with the Jewish engagement with blood: animal and human, real and metaphorical. Concentrating on the meaning or significance of blood in Judaism, the book moves this highly controversial subject away from its traditional focus, exploring how Jews themselves engage with blood and its role in Jewish identity, ritual and culture. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, the book brings together a wide range of perspectives and covers communities in ancient Israel, Europe and America, as well as all major eras of Jewish history: biblical, Talmudic, medieval and modern. Providing historical, religious and cultural examples ranging from the "Blood Libel" through to the poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg, this volume explores the deep continuities in thought and practice related to blood. Moreover, it examines the continuities and discontinuities between Jewish and Christian ideas and practices related to blood, many of which extend into the modern, contemporary period. The chapters look at not only the Jewish and Christian interaction, but the interaction between Jews and the individual national communities to which they belong, including the complex appropriation and rejection of European ideas and images undertaken by some Zionists, and then by the State of Israel. This broad-ranging and multidisciplinary work will be of interest to students of Jewish Studies, History and Religion.

Winner, 2019 Summerfield G. Robert Award, sponsored by The Sons of the Republic of Texas Faces of Béxar showcases the finest work of Jesús F. de la Teja, a foremost authority on Spanish colonial Mexico and Texas through the Republic. These essays trace the arc of the author’s career over a quarter of a century. A new bibliographic essay on early San Antonio and Texas history rounds out the collection, showing where Tejano history has been, is now, and where it might go in the future. For de la Teja, the Tejano experience in San Antonio is a case study of a community in transition, one moved by forces within and without. From its beginnings as an imperial outpost to becoming the center of another, newer empire—itself in transition—the social, political, and military history of San Antonio was central to Texas history, to say nothing of the larger contexts of Mexican and American history. Faces of Béxar explores this and more, including San Antonio's origins as a military settlement, the community's economic ties to Saltillo, its role in the fight for Mexican independence, and the motivations of Tejanos for joining Anglo Texans in the struggle for independence. Taken together, Faces of Béxar stands to be a milestone in the growing literature on Tejano history.