Fortress Family

In Every Home a Fortress, Thomas Bishop details the remarkable cultural history and personal stories behind an iconic figure of Cold War masculinity -- the fallout shelter father, who, with spade in hand and the canned goods he has amassed, sought to save his family from atomic warfare. Putting policy documents and presidential addresses into conversation with previously unmined personal letters, diaries, local media coverage, and antinuclear ephemera, Bishop demonstrates that the nuclear crisis years of 1957 to 1963 were not just pivotal for the history of international relations but were also a transitional moment in the social histories of the white middle class and American fatherhood. During this era, public concerns surrounding civil defense shaped private family conversations, and the fallout shelter emerged as a site at which ideas of nationhood, national security, and masculinity collided with the complex reality of trying to raise and protect a family in the nuclear age.

Based on the true story of the Caetanis, Italian nobility driven into exile by the rise of fascism, this novel follows this once glittering family to British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. When Ofelia Caetani takes her daughter, Sveva, into seclusion after the death of the duke, they are cared for by their personal secretary, Miss Juul, who brings her own secrets to their twenty-five year retreat from the world. As the stories of these three remarkable women unfurl in unexpected and often tragic ways, Little Fortress is revealed as a graceful and intricate tale of friendship, class, trust, betrayal, and, ultimately, love.

American evangelicals are known for focusing on the family, but the Quiverfull movement intensifies that focus in a significant way. Often called "Quiverfull" due to an emphasis on filling their "quivers" with as many children as possible (Psalm 127:5), such families are distinguishable by their practices of male-only leadership, homeschooling, and prolific childbirth. Their primary aim is "multigenerational faithfulness" - ensuring their descendants maintain Christian faith for many generations. Many believe this focus will lead to the Christianization of America in the centuries to come. Quivering Families is a first of its kind project that employs history, ethnography, and theology to explore the Quiverfull movement in America. The book considers a study of the movement's origins, its major leaders and institutions, and the daily lives of its families. Quivering Families argues that despite the apparent strangeness of their practice, Quiverfull is a thoroughly evangelical and American phenomenon. Far from offering a countercultural vision of the family, Quiverfull represents an intensification of longstanding tendencies. The movement reveals the weakness of evangelical theology of the family and underlines the need for more critical and creative approaches.

Uri the dove says goodnight to her friends in this gentle bedtime book that will send children off to sleep with a smile and a prayer. Frolic board books playfully introduce basic faith concepts in a way that's fun and age appropriate for very small children.

This book is a series of works created to increase Healthy Living Alternative Awareness. The reason that I embarked upon uncovering the notion that “there had to be a better way” was due to some health challenges that I encountered. For many years I have mentored, coached, and encouraged those in my circle to be their absolute best. I learned the key was to discover and mend brokenness. Then my life took a dramatic turn; I was in a terrible car accident. I was told that I would not be able to resume what I love to do; teaching & helping others to achieve success. I went through two years of what I called “dating my doctors”. Yes, daily doctor visits to learn to walk, speak, think and even move again. I did not like how the Meds made me feel, I was terrified by the side effects, and I refused to believe that this was it for me. This was not my destiny, I believed that God purposed more for my life. I watched family member after family member die while being treated with prescription medications. I had to find a better way. We’ve all heard that insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result. My poor eating habits and lack of physical exercise had to change. What I discovered is that healthier choices can taste good and be fun to prepare. It takes time retraining the taste buds, however clean eating and healthy conscious living have major benefits, including a better quality of life. So, you know that voice on the inside of you that tells you the right thing to do. Well, my little inner guide has been guiding me toward holistic practices for many years. I finally answered the call and embarked upon studying and researching clean healthy nutrition.

The church has much to teach and much to learn from families about the gifts and challenges of building a more just and compassionate society. Families are schools of solidarity, working each and every day to deepen relationships within the family itself and with other families both near and far. In Schools of Solidarity, Mary Doyle Roche explains how families can resist dehumanizing elements of our culture (competitive consumption, wastefulness, violence, etc.) and transform the many arenas of daily life (homes, workplaces, neighborhoods, schools, and parishes) so that they honor the dignity of all people, especially the poor and vulnerable. Doyle Roche offers questions and activities for discussion and reflection in conjunction with each of the major themes. The practical activities she suggests encourage families to explore social justice issues and ways they might transform unjust conditions in local and even global contexts.

Beginning with a dramatic story of the death of a young adult son, this book presents a new apradigm for the grief process. An alternative to Kubler-Ross, this text is structured around five cries of grief--the cry of pain, the cry of longing, the cry for supportive love, the cry for understanding, and the cry for significance.