His future is disastrous, his present indecent, his past divine. He Is Darcy Dancer, youthful squire of Andromeda Park, the great gray stone mansion inhabited by Crooks, the cross-eyed butler, and the sexy, aristocratic Miss Von B.

In 1973, nearly a decade before the height of the Moral Majority, a group of progressive activists assembled in a Chicago YMCA to strategize about how to move the nation in a more evangelical direction through political action. When they emerged, the "Washington Post" predicted that the new evangelical left could "shake both political and religious life in America." The following decades proved the Post both right and wrong--evangelical participation in the political sphere was intensifying, but in the end it was the religious right, not the left, that built a viable movement and mobilized electorally. How did the evangelical right gain a moral monopoly and why were evangelical progressives, who had shown such promise, left behind?In "Moral Minority," the first comprehensive history of the evangelical left, David R. Swartz sets out to answer these questions, charting the rise, decline, and political legacy of this forgotten movement. Though vibrant in the late nineteenth century, progressive evangelicals were in eclipse following religious controversies of the early twentieth century, only to reemerge in the 1960s and 1970s. They stood for antiwar, civil rights, and anticonsumer principles, even as they stressed doctrinal and sexual fidelity. Politically progressive and theologically conservative, the evangelical left was also remarkably diverse, encompassing groups such as Sojourners, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Evangelicals for Social Action, and the Association for Public Justice. Swartz chronicles the efforts of evangelical progressives who expanded the concept of morality from the personal to the social and showed the way--organizationally and through political activism--to what would become the much larger and more influential evangelical right. By the 1980s, although they had witnessed the election of Jimmy Carter, the nations first born-again president, progressive evangelicals found themselves in the political wilderness, riven by identity politics and alienated by a skeptical Democratic Party and a hostile religious right.In the twenty-first century, evangelicals of nearly all political and denominational persuasions view social engagement as a fundamental responsibility of the faithful. This most dramatic of transformations is an important legacy of the evangelical left.

An “excruciatingly funny” novel by the author of the classic The Ginger Man (Newsweek). From “a comic writer rivaling Waugh and Wodehouse”, this is the story of George Smith (Life). Mysteriously rich and desperately lonely, George appears to be under attack from all quarters. His former wife and four horrible children are suing to get his money. His dipsomaniacal housekeeper is trying to arouse his carnal interest. His secretary, the beautiful, blond Miss Martin, will barely give him the time of day. Making matters even worse are the threatening letters: Dear Sir, Only for the moment are we saying nothing. Yours, etc., Present Associates. Despite such precautions as a two-inch-thick surgical steel door and a bulletproof limousine, Smith remains worried. So he undertakes to build a giant mausoleum, complete with plumbing, in which to live . . . Hunter S. Thompson called reading this book “like sitting down to an evening of good whisky and mad laughter in a rare conversation somewhere on the edge of reality.” A Singular Man is a deliciously dark comic novel by the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement honor from the Irish Book Awards. “A wild romp . . . An important, first-rate novel by a gifted artist.” —Chicago Tribune “Rollicking, rambunctious . . . Sheer pleasure to read . . . Shatteringly funny.” —The New York Times Book Review

This sequel to The Destinies of Darcy Dancer, Gentleman finds Darcy desperately departing Dublin as a pauper. But once home amid the leaking, bat-infested halls of Andromeda Park and his eccentric family and retainers, Darcy meets the servant Leila, who becomes the one bright star in his eternal darkness.

The New York Times Book Review called The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B, J. P. Donleavy's hilarious, bittersweet tale of a lost young man's existential odyssey, "a triumphant piece of writing, achieved with that total authority, total mastery which shows that a fine writer is fully extended...." In the years before and after World War II, Balthazar B is the world's last shy, elegant young man. Born to riches in Paris and raised by his governess, Balthazar is shipped off to a British boarding school, where he meets the noble but naughty Beefy. The duo matriculate to Trinity College, Dublin, where Balthazar reads zoology and Beefy prepares for holy orders, all the while sharing amorous adventures high and low, until their university careers come to an abrupt and decidedly unholy end. Written with trademark bravado and a healthy dose of sincerity, The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B is vintage Donleavy.

'A Manual of the Art of Fiction' by Clayton Meeker Hamilton is a comprehensive guide to writing fiction. From Realism to Romance, the author draws examples from Poe, Hawthorne, and Robert Louis Stevenson to offer a step-by-step course through essential topics like plot, characters, setting, and point of view. Amongst other topics that it touches upon, the book explores the purpose of fiction and the nature of narrative, the difference between the epic, drama, and novel, and how to structure a short story. Hamilton's guide also covers the importance of style in fiction, including memorable words and the patterning of syllables. A must-read for aspiring writers and fans of fiction alike.