From a New York Times Notable author comes a “fiercely honest . . . and utterly heartbreaking” memoir of brotherhood, grief, and mental illness (Jay McInerney). In 2000, while moving his household from Vermont to North Carolina, author David Payne watched from his rearview mirror as his younger brother, George A., driving behind him in a two-man convoy of rental trucks, lost control of his vehicle, fishtailed, flipped over in the road, and died instantly. Soon thereafter, David’s life entered a downward spiral that lasted several years. His career came to a standstill, his marriage disintegrated, and his drinking went from a cocktail hour indulgence to a full-blown addiction. He found himself haunted not only by George A.’s death, but also by his brother’s manic depression, a hereditary illness that overlaid a dark and violent family history whose roots now gripped David, threatening both his and his children’s futures. The only way out, he found, was to write about his brother. This is the “piercing . . . tour de force” account of David and George A.’s boyhood footrace that lasted long into their adulthood, defining their relationship and their lives (Los Angeles Times). As universal as it is intimate, this is an exceptional memoir of sibling rivalry and sibling love, and of the torments a family can hold silent and carry across generations. A story not only of survival in the face of adversity but of hard-won wisdom, Barefoot to Avalon is “an elegy to a brother that plumbs depths beyond depths—a fever-dream of a memoir, a blazing map of familial love and loss, headlong and heartbreaking and gorgeously written” (James Kaplan, national bestselling author of Frank: The Voice and Sinatra: The Chairman).

“Masterful . . . Somewhere between Faulkner and Conroy.”—The Denver Post In Ruin Creek, David Payne revisits North Carolina’s windswept Outer Banks and the Madden family. Writing in the contrapuntal voices of eleven-year-old Joey and his parents, May and Jimmy, David Payne portrays a family that breaks apart, heals, and endures. Joey bears the burden of his parents’ increasingly unhappy union. As he struggles to cope with his fractured family life, Joey turns to his grandfather who explains that “a time may come when a person has to let go of what he loves in order to save himself.” Imbued in Payne’s trademark lyrical prose and psychological acuity, this is a novel “full of life, full of wisdom, full of words that singe, sing, and somehow console” (The Boston Globe). “The most gifted novelist of his generation.”—The Dallas Morning News “A powerful, lyrical novel that is a joy to read.”—The New York Times Book Review

The Daode Jing, a highly enigmatic work rooted in ancient Chinese cosmology, ontology, metaphysics, and moral thinking, is regularly offered to college and high-school students in religion, philosophy, history, literature, Asian studies, and humanities courses. As a result, an ever-expanding group of faculty with very different backgrounds and training routinely confront the question: "How should I teach the Daode Jing?" Written for non-specialists who may not have a background in ancient Chinese culture, the essays collected in this volume provide up-to-date information on contemporary scholarship and classroom strategies that have been successful in a variety of teaching environments. A classic text like the Daode Jing generates debate among scholars and teachers who ask questions like: Should we capitalize on popular interest in the Daode Jing in our classrooms? Which of the many translations and scholarly approaches ought we to use? Is it appropriate to think of the Daode Jing as a religious text at all? These and other controversies are addressed in this volume. Contributors are well-known scholars of Daoism, including Livia Kohn, Norman Girardot, Robert Henricks, Russell Kirkland, Hans-Georg Moeller, Hall Roth, and Michael LaFargue. In addition, there are essays by Eva Wong (Daoist practitioner), David Hall (philosophy), Gary DeAngelis (mysticism), and a jointly written essay on pedagogical strategies by Judith Berling, Geoffrey Foy, and John Thompson (Chinese religion).

REFLECTIONS FROM THE WAY is a collection of personal essays by Mikhail Goussev previously published in Wharton Journal, Qi Journal, A Journal of Russian Thought and other publications over the course of fifteen years.

Taoism, the set of philosophical teachings and religious practices rooted in the understanding of the Chinese character Tao, or "The Way," was founded by the Chinese philosopher Laozi in the 6th Century BCE, whose work, the Tao Te Ching (The Book of the Way and its Virtue) laid the philosophical foundation for the religion's beliefs. This volume starts, as it should, with a detailed chronology of Taoism and its relationship both to China and other teachings. The introduction inserts it further in this basic context. Then the dictionary section, consisting of several hundred cross-referenced entries, provides a more detailed treatment of significant persons, nonpersons (gods and demons), concepts, practices, rituals, scriptures, and schools. The bibliography suggests further reading.

This reference book on Taoism, one of the major spiritual traditions of China, includes in its coverage both Taoist philosophy and Taoist religion. An introduction provides overall insight into Taoist development through the ages, while the dictionary itself is comprised of 275 entries that define Taoist concepts, scriptures, deities, practices, and personalities. Includes an extensive bibliography.