A Dugout To Peace

“Morgenstein has blended baseball and science fiction, and created a complex, nightmarish future that grabs the reader and doesn’t let go until the final pitch. This series is a home run!” —Geekstronomy.com “A classic of modern speculative fiction that also examines today’s real-world socio-political environment. Plus, baseball!!” —Fenway Nation Winter 2099 Finally cleared of treason charges, Puppy Nedick is now the Commissioner of Baseball. Vowing to return the game to its previous national glory, he becomes alarmed when there is little interest in the sport. Troubled by flagging attendance, excessively polite fans, and the poor quality of play, Puppy makes a radical decision: return the dying sport to the game of old. Attendance soars and suddenly gamegoers are rooting for the home team, participating in bobblehead giveaways, waving banners, and vying for autographs of the celebrity players. Baseball is becoming the national pastime again. And those who are in power are watching. The revival of the sport unleashes dormant passions and new fears, creating questions about America’s revised history and challenging the very foundation and the basic laws of the controlling Family. Once again a scapegoat, baseball becomes the rallying point of resistance as ordinary heroes try to bring the world together against the terrifying specter of impending nuclear annihilation, in the explosive conclusion to the Dark Depths trilogy.

From Cannibals to Christ-Followers--A True Story In 1962, Don and Carol Richardson risked their lives to share the gospel with the Sawi people of New Guinea. Peace Child tells their unforgettable story of living among these headhunters and cannibals, who valued treachery through fattening victims with friendship before the slaughter. God gave Don and Carol the key to the Sawi hearts via a redemptive analogy from their own mythology. The "peace child" became the secret to unlocking a value system that had existed through generations. This analogy became a stepping-stone by which the gospel came into the Sawi culture and started both a spiritual and a social revolution from within. With an epilogue updating how the gospel has impacted the Sawi people, this missionary classic will inspire a new generation of readers who need to hear this remarkable story and the lessons it teaches us about communicating Christ in a meaningful way to those around us.

At the outbreak of the First World War, an entire generation of young men charged into battle for what they believed was a glorious cause. Over the next four years, that cause claimed the lives of some 13 million soldiers--more than twice the number killed in all the major wars from 1790 to 1914. But despite this devastating toll, the memory of the war was not, predominantly, of the grim reality of its trench warfare and battlefield carnage. What was most remembered by the war's participants was its sacredness and the martyrdom of those who had died for the greater glory of the fatherland. War, and the sanctification of it, is the subject of this pioneering work by well-known European historian George L. Mosse. Fallen Soldiers offers a profound analysis of what he calls the Myth of the War Experience--a vision of war that masks its horror, consecrates its memory, and ultimately justifies its purpose. Beginning with the Napoleonic wars, Mosse traces the origins of this myth and its symbols, and examines the role of war volunteers in creating and perpetuating it. But it was not until World War I, when Europeans confronted mass death on an unprecedented scale, that the myth gained its widest currency. Indeed, as Mosse makes clear, the need to find a higher meaning in the war became a national obsession. Focusing on Germany, with examples from England, France, and Italy, Mosse demonstrates how these nations--through memorials, monuments, and military cemeteries honoring the dead as martyrs--glorified the war and fostered a popular acceptance of it. He shows how the war was further promoted through a process of trivialization in which war toys and souvenirs, as well as postcards like those picturing the Easter Bunny on the Western Front, softened the war's image in the public mind. The Great War ended in 1918, but the Myth of the War Experience continued, achieving its most ruthless political effect in Germany in the interwar years. There the glorified notion of war played into the militant politics of the Nazi party, fueling the belligerent nationalism that led to World War II. But that cataclysm would ultimately shatter the myth, and in exploring the postwar years, Mosse reveals the extent to which the view of death in war, and war in general, was finally changed. In so doing, he completes what is likely to become one of the classic studies of modern war and the complex, often disturbing nature of human perception and memory.

Jerry Kalb grew up on a farm near Bucyrus, Ohio, in rural Crawford County. Although his lack of affinity for all things agricultural led him away from the farm, his rural upbringing influenced his down-to-earth, informal approach to ministry. Part 1 of this book offers condensed "nuggets" of sermons preached over a two- to three-year period at the Painesville United Methodist Church, where Rev. Kalb has pastored during the past two decades. In part 2 readers will find some of his "One Minute Messages" broadcast daily over local radio station WKKY FM 104.7. Topics range from a personal relationship with God to family life, the fellowship of believers, and outreach in the greater community. Rev. Kalb's style is conversational and accessible, sprinkled with humor and everyday anecdotes. His positive, inspirational thoughts point to a God who is above all loving and forgiving and who welcomes all people. He has often told the congregation, "If you only remember one thing I've ever said, always remember that God loves you."