Mount Vernon, despite its importance as the estate of George Washington, is subject to the same threats of time as any property and has required considerable resources and organization to endure as a historic site and house. This book provides a window into the broad scope of preservation work undertaken at Mount Vernon over the course of more than 160 years and places this work within the context of America’s regional and national preservation efforts. It was at Mount Vernon, beginning with efforts in 1853, that the American tradition of historic preservation truly took hold. As the nation’s oldest historic house museum, Mount Vernon offers a unique opportunity to chronicle preservation challenges and successes over time as well as to forecast those of the future. Stewards of Memory features essays by senior scholars who helped define American historic preservation in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, including Carl R. Lounsbury, George W. McDaniel, and Carter L. Hudgins. Their contributions—complemented by those of Scott E. Casper, Lydia Mattice Brandt, and Mount Vernon’s own preservation scholars—offer insights into the changing nature of the field. The multifaceted story told here will be invaluable to students of historic preservation, historic site professionals, specialists in the preservation field, and any reader with an interest in American historic preservation and Mount Vernon. Support provided by the David Bruce Smith Book Fund and the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon.

R. Scott Rodin unpacks a theology of the abundant life, which encompasses our world, life and possessions, and appropriately begins with the very being of the Creator.

Sandra L. Richter cares about the Bible and the environment. Using her expertise in ancient Israelite society as well as in biblical theology, she walks readers through biblical passages and shares case studies that connect the biblical mandate to current issues. She then calls Christians to apply that message to today's environmental concerns.

Stewards of Grace tells several stories in one. It is a story of two faithful stewards of God's grace called to serve the poor, despised, and marginalized in apartheid South Africa. It is a story that captures how cross-cultural missions from the west at the end of the colonial era led to a thriving church in the southern hemisphere. It is a story of God's power to redeem and transform the lost, heal the sick, and build the church of Jesus Christ. It is a story of the positives and negatives of Pentecostal missions in its third generation in the mid-twentieth century. And it is a story of radical Christian discipleship. Written first for those who would like to know the story of the first of six decades of ministry for Eugene and Phyllis Grams, this book also reflects on mission theology and practice. The very personal story is full of painful struggles and amazing miracles, human opposition and divine triumph, and examples of how God's plan works through and despite human weaknesses for the praise of his glory and grace. Reflection on ministry, missions, theology, and the Christian life are based on Scripture, history, and the Grams' personal experiences. The biographical narrative explores such things as the call to Christian service, evangelism, church planting, justice, compassion, cross-cultural ministry, partnerships, and spiritual power. The result is both a riveting biography and a narrative theology of mission practice to challenge and encourage every believer.

A fast-paced, behind-closed-doors account of the Federal Reserve’s decision making during the 2008 financial crisis, showing how Fed policymakers overcame their own assumptions to contain the disaster. The financial crisis of 2008 led to the collapse of several major banks and thrust the US economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression. The Federal Reserve was the agency most responsible for maintaining the nation’s economic stability. And the Fed’s Open Market Committee was a twelve-member body at the epicenter, making sense of the unfolding crisis and fashioning a response. This is the story of how they failed, learned, and staved off catastrophe. Drawing on verbatim transcripts of the committee’s closed-door meetings, Mitchel Abolafia puts readers in the room with the Federal Reserve’s senior policymaking group. Abolafia uncovers what the Fed’s policymakers knew before, during, and after the collapse. He explores how their biases and intellectual commitments both helped and hindered as they made sense of the emergency. In an original contribution to the sociology of finance, Stewards of the Market examines the social and cultural factors that shaped the Fed’s response, one marked by missed cues and analytic failures but also by successful improvisations and innovations. Ideas, traditions, and power all played their roles in the Fed’s handling of the crisis. In particular, Abolafia demonstrates that the Fed’s adherence to conflicting theories of self-correcting markets contributed to the committee’s doubts and decisions. A vivid portrait of the world’s most powerful central bank in a moment of high stakes, Stewards of the Market is rich with insights for the next financial downturn.