Abraham In Arms

In 1678, the Puritan minister Samuel Nowell preached a sermon he called "Abraham in Arms," in which he urged his listeners to remember that "Hence it is no wayes unbecoming a Christian to learn to be a Souldier." The title of Nowell's sermon was well chosen. Abraham of the Old Testament resonated deeply with New England men, as he embodied the ideal of the householder-patriarch, at once obedient to God and the unquestioned leader of his family and his people in war and peace. Yet enemies challenged Abraham's authority in New England: Indians threatened the safety of his household, subordinates in his own family threatened his status, and wives and daughters taken into captivity became baptized Catholics, married French or Indian men, and refused to return to New England. In a bold reinterpretation of the years between 1620 and 1763, Ann M. Little reveals how ideas about gender and family life were central to the ways people in colonial New England, and their neighbors in New France and Indian Country, described their experiences in cross-cultural warfare. Little argues that English, French, and Indian people had broadly similar ideas about gender and authority. Because they understood both warfare and political power to be intertwined expressions of manhood, colonial warfare may be understood as a contest of different styles of masculinity. For New England men, what had once been a masculinity based on household headship, Christian piety, and the duty to protect family and faith became one built around the more abstract notions of British nationalism, anti-Catholicism, and soldiering for the Empire. Based on archival research in both French and English sources, court records, captivity narratives, and the private correspondence of ministers and war officials, Abraham in Arms reconstructs colonial New England as a frontier borderland in which religious, cultural, linguistic, and geographic boundaries were permeable, fragile, and contested by Europeans and Indians alike.

The Civil War was the largest and bloodiest conflict ever waged upon American soil, and while no fighting took place in Michigan, both the hardship of the war effort and the heroism of Michigan men at war touched residents deeply. In Father Abraham’s Children: Michigan Episodes in the Civil War, Frank Woodford collects personal remembrances of the war from many sources. Originally published in 1961 and reissued in 1999, this volume is not a formal account of Michigan’s part in the conflict or an analysis of military strategy and wartime politics, but instead presents stories of Michigan soldiers, both as individuals and as units, and their actions, thoughts, and aspirations, presented for the first time in a paperback edition. Among the episodes Woodford recounts with a wealth of colorful detail are Michigan’s participation in the Underground Railroad; the strange tale of Sarah Emma Edmonds, alias Private Franklin Thompson; the ill-fated strategy that led to the slaughter at the Crater; an odyssey of escape from Danville and from Libby Prison; the bizarre Confederate plot to capture a Federal sloop-of-war on Lake Erie; the Michigan Cavalry Brigade’s exploits under George Custer; the chance encounter with a Michigan soldier that brought death to the gallant Jeb Stuart; impressions and descriptions of camp life and the ordinary routine of a soldier from the diary of Private Frank Lane; the disaster of the First Michigan at Bull Run; the story of Michigan’s medical services and the origin of Harper Hospital; the Detroit Riot of 1863; and the nightmare explosion of the steamer Sultana with a death toll of over 1,200 soldiers on their way home from Confederate prisons. Civil War buffs and readers interested in Michigan history will be grateful for the paperback edition of Father Abraham’s Children.

In postcolonial America, a treasure is lost; two centuries later, a mysterious gold coin is unearthed. Abraham is alone in 1795 London after the death of his mother. He is bright, talented, full of ambition, and craves to belong and to be appreciated. But his uncanny ability to make wrong decisions forces him into a whirlwind spiral down a slippery path. Forced to flee his homeland, he ventures across the sea to the new world for a fresh beginning, but his inability to control his overpowering ambition finds him right back on a new, more treacherous odyssey. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ After a perplexing discovery in modern-day Maryland, Ian, his family, and good friends find themselves relentlessly pursued by sadistic operatives. Forced into hiding, the tight-knit band fall into uncharted territory, far outside their element. Will the pressures disintegrate friendships or cement them into unbreakable bonds? Will they find and figure out the mysterious clues? Can they solve a bewildering cypher created centuries ago? Should they involve the authorities to stop the madness, or are the authorities the perpetrators of the madness? They won’t know until they turn the table and become the madness themselves.

Rebekah’s creativeness and perseverance in obtaining the blessing for Jacob was determined and powerful. This narrative creates a birth scene to equal her awesome entry into the world. Her adult life was far from normal, so an uncharacteristic childhood needed to set the stage for the many skills and abilities she possessed as an adult. The Bible states that Bethuel asked Rebekah to decide if she would become Isaac’s wife. That scene is explosive with her fiery red hair, green eyes, and an outburst uncharacteristic of women of the time. Over the twenty barren years that Rebekah waited to give birth, she became known as a midwife, healer, arbitrator, and counselor. The time to honor Rebekah as the servant of God has come. In this riveting story, you will get to know one of the most vibrant people in Scripture. No longer will a disobedient Isaac overshadow a faithful servant of the LORD. No longer will the frightened Jacob be seen as the deceiver. No longer will Rebekah be regarded as the obedient wife of Isaac but as the faithful servant of our LORD. Come, enjoy the exciting adventures of Rebekah.