A Six Gun For Socrates

This short book presents a series of philosophical essays written in response to gun violence in the United States. While the matters of guns, violence and rights are often met with emotional responses, my approach has been to consider these matters from a philosophical standpoint. This does not involve looking at them without emotion. Rather, it involves considering them in a rational way and this requires considering how our emotions affect our views of these vital matters.

Memorize the Stoics! The Ancient Art of Memory Meets the Timeless Art of Living. The title says it all! Extolling the powers of God-given human reason, Stoic philosophers such as Roman knight Musonius Rufus and his student, the former slave, Epictetus, developed powerful practical lessons for living tranquil, virtuous, loving lives. These lessons were praised by such early Church Fathers as Justin Martyr and Origen. Epictetus's Handbook was later adapted as a moral guidebook for monks. A millennium later, Thomas Aquinas mined the Stoic Seneca's lessons on anger, gratitude, patience, and more for use in his Summa Theologiae. And in our own day, the psychological and moral teachings of the Stoics constitute an "art of living" that fairly cries out to act as compass for the nearly rudderless boat of our disordered contemporary world. But still, it is hard to live out important life lessons if you cannot remember them! In those same early centuries before and after Christ, Greeks like Simonides and Romans like Cicero championed a specialized "art of memory." Early Church Fathers such as Augustine and Jerome championed this also, as did, centuries later, Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. The unique virtue of Kevin Vost's book is its wedding of the ancient art of memory to the timeless art of living. In his Handbook, Epictetus exhorts us to "remember" his lessons a full dozen times, and in his own book Vost shows us how to do just this, thereby opening our eyes to unrecognized powers of imagination and memory, and to unrecognized capacities for controlling thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Even so, the Stoics would not mind at all if you found this exercise of imagination and intellect a rather fun thing to do. Enjoy!

Socrates Fortlow, an ex-convict forced to define his own morality in a lawless world, confronts wrongs that most people would rather ignore and comes face-to-face with the most dangerous emotion: hope. It has been nine years since his release from prison, and he still makes his home in a two-room shack in a Watts alley. But he has a girlfriend now, a steady job, and he is even caring for a pet, the two-legged dog he calls Killer. These responsibilities make finding the right path even harder - especially when the police make Socrates their first suspect in every crime within six blocks.--BOOK JACKET. "In each chapter of Walkin' the Dog, Socrates challenges a different conundrum of modern life. In "Blue Lightning, " he is offered a better-paying job but has to consider whether the extra pay is worth the freedom he would have to give up. In "Promise, " he keeps a vow made long ago to a dying friend, and learns that a promise to one person can mean damage to another. In "Mookie Kid, " he gets a telephone and,learns that the price of being able to reach others is that others can contact him - whether he wants to be reached or not."--BOOK JACKET. "Walkin' the Dog builds to a stunning climax as Socrates takes on a rogue cop who has terrorized his neighborhood."--BOOK JACKET.

After training at St John's Wood in London and in Exeter, Alexander Douglas Thorburn was posted to the BEF in France, joining the 2/22nd London (Howitzer) Battery, Royal Field Artillery as a subaltern officer. After service in the Vimy Ridge sector, with his division, the 60th (2/2nd London) Division, he crossed the Mediterranean to join the British Army in Salonika. Following a further move in mid-1917, Thorburn arrived in Palestine where he saw service with the 74th (Yeomanry) Division during the advance on Jerusalem. A final move in 1918 took the now Captain Thorburn back to the Western Front to take part in the Advance to Victory during the closing months of the war. ??After the war, Thorburn wrote an account of his military service between 1916 and 1918, recording his experiences in France, Greece and Palestine as well as his initial training in England. He also wrote a series of observations on life as a gunner during the First World War. Both the account and observations were published as a book, Amateur Gunners, in 1933 by William Potter of Liverpool. Today, the book is out of print. ??In addition to the book, of which a small number of copies still exist of course, there are an extensive series of private letters written by Thorburn while on active service to his mother, father and other relatives. The letters are in the possession of Thorburn's only grandson. ??Together, the book and letters offer a fascinating insight into the life of a First World War artillery officer. Lucidly written in a candid style, Thorburn shows excellent observation, description and narration skills. While Amateur Gunners itself is worthy of reprint, when combined with Thorburn's private letters and historical context from author Ian Ronayne, this book offers a unique look at a gunner's experience during the Great War.

Rzepka draws on more than twelve hours of personal interviews with Leonard and applies what he learned to his close analysis of the writer’s long life and prodigious output: 45 published novels, 39 published and unpublished short stories, and numerous essays written over the course of six decades.

* How are states made possible, constructed in theory and practice, and what alternative possibilities are given up by conferring legitimacy on states? * How do 'reasons of state' appropriate and inform discourses of sovereignty, territoriality, historiography, diplomacy, security and community? * How can we employ language to challenge the problematic logics of international relations and imagine alternative ways of being with and relating to others? States of Political Discourse addresses these questions through a series of highly original and provocative essays that engage a range of political conditions and practices, exploring areas that are conventionally neglected. Topics include the language of normal and pathological states in Freudian psychoanalysis, the mythography of Europe, the political reification of the Himalayan region, the spirituality of cosmopolitanism, the status of the Knights of St John, and the literary exploration of diplomacy and security.