rewriting his own story, he became a criminal, a minister, a leader, and an icon, all before being felled by assassins' bullets at age thirty-nine. Through his tireless work and countless speeches he empowered hundreds of thousands of black Americans to create better lives and stronger communities while establishing the template for the self-actualized, independent African American man. In death he became a broad symbol of both resistance and reconciliation for millions around the world.
full gallop.
immigrants who passed through it from 1892 to 1924. He follows its reincarnation as a detention center for wartime aliens and as a monument and museum, which he admits may celebrate uncritically "ethnic triumphalism" and upward mobility. Cannato writes that understaffing resulted in only perfunctory screening for mental, physical, and moral traits that might have made newcomers public charges, and he disabuses readers of the fallacy that examiners, rather than steamship officials or immigrants bent on assimilation, changed entrants' last names. With a focus on how "actual people created, interpreted, and executed immigration laws," Cannato maintains that regulation, which sometimes degraded into restriction, formed part of Progressive era reform and growing federal involvement to safeguard what was deemed the public interest. This measured book helps to place in perspective discussions—sure to matter to genealogists and those engaged in political discourse—of Ellis Island and the idea of immigration as a privilege rather than a right. Essential
reading.
his teaching duties. But Hank, who has practiced meditation for 20 years, feels ill-equipped to replace the wise, genial man who has helped him make sense of his life. During a weeklong trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Jake and Hank ponder the future as they indulge in hearty breakfasts at the Golden Donut (a beloved Cambridge greasy spoon that closed in the late 1990s), knock back beers at Charlie's Tap (also a real--and still thriving--place), and meet with Jake's benefactor, Madeleine, to discuss plans for creating a state-of-the-art retreat center. Time is ticking for Jake, who is lucid one moment, lost in a fog the next. Can a hesitant Hank transcend his fears and hone koans worthy of his soulful mentor? Longtime Buddhist practitioner Guy (Autobiography of My Body, 1985) explores the Zen zone in this low-key tale of meditation, mentoring, and mouth-watering baked goods.
Wars in the office trenches of the 1980s and 1990s, women have gained enough corporate clout to start changing the workplace to suit their needs. Shipman and Kay review the depth of women's influence as consumers and earners, maintaining that their power gives them the right and the ability to ask for flexibility in their work lives, to negotiate assertively and effectively, to say no and to give up the guilt associated with getting their needs met. Through Shipman and Kay's own stories of struggling with demanding work and home lives and anecdotes from other working mothers, the authors make a convincing argument that with some mental and emotional effort, women can create their ideal work and home lives. Filled with pragmatic and optimistic steps, this book will inspire readers to set in motion a flexibility-driven business revolution that can benefit all women and men, families and workforces.
Once we could fill our grocery carts with cheap and plentiful food, but not anymore. Cheap food has gone the way of cheap oil. Climate change is already reducing crop yields worldwide.

The cost of flying in food from far away and shipping it across the country in refrigerated trucks is rapidly becoming unviable. Cars and cows increasingly devour grain harvests, sending prices skyrocketing. More Americans than ever before require food stamps and food pantries just to get by, and a worldwide food crisis is unfolding, overseas and in our kitchens.
We can keep hunger from stalking our families, but doing so will require a fundamental shift in our approach to field and table. A Nation of Farmers examines the limits and dangers of the globalized food system and how returning to basics is our best hope. The book includes in-depth guidelines for:
The book argues that we need to make self-provisioning, once the most ordinary of human activities, central to our lives. The results will be better
food, better health, better security and freedom from corporations that don't have our interests at heart.
Critical reading for anyone who eats and cares about high-quality food and food sources.
~from the Publisher
**Don't forget to check out Grand Rapids' own Fulton Street Farmer's Market! Buy fresh, whole foods from local farmers, and support sustainable, small-scale agriculture.
in his seminal Last Child in the Woods, a step further, to argue that adults need nature, too. "A reconnection to the natural world is fundamental to human health," he writes, asking, "What would our lives be like if our days and nights were as immersed in nature as they are in electronics?" Louv's "Nature Principle" consists of seven precepts, including balancing technology excess with time in nature; a mind/body/nature connection, which Louv calls "vitamin N," that enhances physical and mental health; expanding our sense of community to include all living things; and purposefully developing a spiritual, psychological, physical attachment to a region and its natural history. The book presents examples of these precepts, from studies of how exposure to a common soil bacteria increases production of serotonin in the brain to designing shopping malls inspired by termite mounds.
glimpse into the "mind of God."
that speak of her. How did she become such a compelling saint in the face of such paltry evidence? In her effort to answer that question, Cynthia Bourgeault examines the Bible, church tradition, art, legend, and newly discovered texts to see what’s there. She then applies her own reasoning and intuition, informed by the wisdom of the ages-old Christian contemplative tradition. What emerges is a radical view of Mary Magdalene as Jesus’s most important disciple, the one he considered to understand his teaching best. That teaching was characterized by a nondualistic approach to the world and by a deep understanding of the value of the feminine. Cynthia shows how an understanding of Mary Magdalene can revitalize contemporary Christianity, how Christians and others can, through her, find their way to Jesus’s original teachings and apply them to their modern lives.
conference leader, and author of seven books on contemplative Christianity. She is also the founder of the Contemplative Society, and of the Aspen Wisdom School in Colorado. Watch a video of an interview of Cynthia given by the Shalem Institute here.
authorities, P.M.H. Atwater. Atwater shares her amazing findings, based on her sessions with more than 4,000 adults and children, and over 40 years of research; a breathtaking culmination to a successful and controversial career.
memoirs or guidebooks on meditation, mindfulness, entering the way of peace...and how different are they, really? What's the use in having one more?"
Mattis-Namgyel, is the way in which these huge ideas are grounded in the simplicity of life's most quotidian experiences. Living life as an open question allows us to truly be in the world and with others--to see things for what they are, not as we presume them to be. We are able (to use a familiar expression) to be the screen door, through which the wind passes, but which the wind does not conflict with nor break from its hinges. This is something we are all capable of, but something that we all have difficulty with--Mattis-Namgyel reminds us of that possibility. And that is something that I, for one, need to be reminded of--over and over again.