A collection of true events, Song of the Free illustrates beautifully the life of Dattatreyaji, a monk, a syncretic deity, who is considered to be an incarnation of Trimurti, blessed with the qualities of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. An avatar and a wandering ascetic, Dattatreyaji's life stressed on the importance of learning. He taught us to recognise wisdom from even the smallest creature of nature, like the honey bee. The book gathers the profound cognisance of Dattatreyaji. The 24 gurus, as accepted by him, are individually described, each forming a chapter. The guru is a source of divinity and the true guru guides us to attain our divine attributes. The book portrays the supreme consciousness of Dattatreyaji as he acknowledged the true guru found in nature-animals, birds and humans. He emphasised that if you have the desire to learn you can derive inspiration from anything. Moreover, his teachings inspire us to be in harmony with nature and other elements of the environment. Song of the Free acts as a true guru who will lead you to wisdom, allowing youto thrive on your own. Influenced by spirituality and philosophy, the book is a guide to learning-learning to live and live with wisdom.

The close friendship between Martin Simmonds and violin prodigy Dovidl Rappoport, two Jewish boys living in London between the 1930s and the end of World War II, is threatened by the unexpected disappearance of Dovidl on the eve of his debut performance.

"The biblical book, richly illustrated in calligraphy, with commentary"--

An essential history of the greatest love poem ever written The Song of Songs has been embraced for centuries as the ultimate song of love. But the kind of love readers have found in this ancient poem is strikingly varied. Ilana Pardes invites us to explore the dramatic shift from readings of the Song as a poem on divine love to celebrations of its exuberant account of human love. With a refreshingly nuanced approach, she reveals how allegorical and literal interpretations are inextricably intertwined in the Song's tumultuous life. The body in all its aspects—pleasure and pain, even erotic fervor—is key to many allegorical commentaries. And although the literal, sensual Song thrives in modernity, allegory has not disappeared. New modes of allegory have emerged in modern settings, from the literary and the scholarly to the communal. Offering rare insights into the story of this remarkable poem, Pardes traces a diverse line of passionate readers. She looks at Jewish and Christian interpreters of late antiquity who were engaged in disputes over the Song's allegorical meaning, at medieval Hebrew poets who introduced it into the opulent world of courtly banquets, and at kabbalists who used it as a springboard to the celestial spheres. She shows how feminist critics have marveled at the Song's egalitarian representation of courtship, and how it became a song of America for Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, and Toni Morrison. Throughout these explorations of the Song's reception, Pardes highlights the unparalleled beauty of its audacious language of love.

A haunting memoir describes growing up in the shadow of the Vietnam War, the desperate struggle of one family to survive amid the chaos of the fall of Saigon and its aftermath, their escape to freedom, and the return to Vietnam on a personal humanitarian mission. Reprint.

First published in the US in 1995. This is an account of the author's three years imprisonment in a Japanese camp on Sumatra during WWII, her childhood before the war on the island of Tarakan and her escape from Tarakan with her fathers and sisters. It tells of the uplifting influence of a singing group in the camp comprised of Dutch Australian and English women prisoners. A television documentary entitled 'Song of Survival' was based on events recorded in this book. Includes an index.