Half Life Of A Zealot

An autobiography by Swanee Hunt, daughter of the legendary oil magnate H. L. Hunt, Bill Clinton's Ambassador to Austria, and internationally renowned philanthropist.

When the name W. A. Criswell is read or heard, certain thoughts come to mind. Many likely remember him as a president of the Southern Baptist Convention, or the founder of the Criswell College in Dallas, Texas, or the senior pastor for five decades of one of the largest Baptist churches in America, or even one of the key figures during the Conservative Resurgence. All of these are acknowledgments of the importance of the life of Criswell, but these do not necessarily capture who he was as a man, as a husband, as a father, as a friend and mentor. O.S. Hawkins was closely mentored by Criswell and was his pastoral successor. In Criswell: His Life and Times, Hawkins takes on the task of capturing the life of one of the most important figures in modern Baptist history. He discusses his humble upbringing, the dedication of his parents to ensure he received a proper education, his early years as a pastor, and how his love for the church influenced those around him over the course of his life. It is a biography that is both admiring and honest, and written with the knowledge of someone who could only know Criswell as a friend and a mentor.

The rise of right-wing broadcasting during the Cold War has been mostly forgotten today. But in the 1950s and ’60s you could turn on your radio any time of the day and listen to diatribes against communism, civil rights, the United Nations, fluoridation, federal income tax, Social Security, or JFK, as well as hosannas praising Barry Goldwater and Jesus Christ. Half a century before the rise of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, these broadcasters bucked the FCC’s public interest mandate and created an alternate universe of right-wing political coverage, anticommunist sermons, and pro-business bluster. A lively look back at this formative era, What’s Fair on the Air? charts the rise and fall of four of the most prominent right-wing broadcasters: H. L. Hunt, Dan Smoot, Carl McIntire, and Billy James Hargis. By the 1970s, all four had been hamstrung by the Internal Revenue Service, the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine, and the rise of a more effective conservative movement. But before losing their battle for the airwaves, Heather Hendershot reveals, they purveyed ideological notions that would eventually triumph, creating a potent brew of religion, politics, and dedication to free-market economics that paved the way for the rise of Ronald Reagan, the Moral Majority, Fox News, and the Tea Party.

Peace processes are mostly very fragile. This engagingly written book takes a bold new approach to the topic by beginning from the premise that sociology can identify those factors that help to stabilize them. The book draws a distinction between the political and social dimensions of peace processes, arguing that each is dependent on the other. Consideration of the social peace process, neglected in conventional treatments of the subject, is made central to this volume. While complementing current approaches that emphasize institutional reform in politics, law and economics, it pays due attention to sociological factors such as gender, civil society, religion, the deconstruction of violent masculinities, restorative justice, emotions, hope, forgiveness, truth recovery, social memory and public victimhood. These important themes are fully illustrated with examples and in-depth case studies from across the globe. The book locates itself within the growing debate about the positive impact of global civil society on peace and identifies the new forms of peace work engendered by globalization. It will be essential reading for students and scholars of peace studies in politics, international relations and sociology departments.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A lucid, intelligent page-turner” (Los Angeles Times) that challenges long-held assumptions about Jesus, from the host of Believer Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the “Kingdom of God.” The revolutionary movement he launched was so threatening to the established order that he was executed as a state criminal. Within decades after his death, his followers would call him God. Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history’s most enigmatic figures by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived. Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction. He explores the reasons the early Christian church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary. And he grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself, the mystery that is at the heart of all subsequent claims about his divinity. Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told even as it affirms the radical and transformative nature of Jesus’ life and mission. Praise for Zealot “Riveting . . . Aslan synthesizes Scripture and scholarship to create an original account.”—The New Yorker “Fascinatingly and convincingly drawn . . . Aslan may come as close as one can to respecting those who revere Jesus as the peace-loving, turn-the-other-cheek, true son of God depicted in modern Christianity, even as he knocks down that image.”—The Seattle Times “[Aslan’s] literary talent is as essential to the effect of Zealot as are his scholarly and journalistic chops. . . . A vivid, persuasive portrait.”—Salon “This tough-minded, deeply political book does full justice to the real Jesus, and honors him in the process.”—San Francisco Chronicle “A special and revealing work, one that believer and skeptic alike will find surprising, engaging, and original.”—Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power “Compulsively readable . . . This superb work is highly recommended.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Tells of a well-meaning foreign policy establishment often deaf to the voices of everyday people

“Drs. Judith Bachay and Raúl Fernández-Calienes present us with another outstanding volume of narratives that provide a much needed forum to share stories of the global movement of women towards empowerment and the securing of their human rights. Each of the twenty-three chapters’ authors share different aspects of the issues and challenges women have or will encounter as they “move forward.” The diversity of the stories reflects the diversity of the authors. As examples, Ariela Agosín discusses the progress Chile has made in recent years towards providing women with a voice. Katariina Juliao provides the reader with a comparison between the United States and Finland as to the evolution of women’s rights using examples from politics, education, and the workplace. Many of the authors explore the new difficulties and prejudices faced by women and/or their families who have migrated to foreign countries to escape the oppressive conditions in their homelands. Others reveal to the reader through first-person narratives, the intrapersonal conflicts experienced by those who are “moving forward” but fear the loss of their heritage. Women Moving Forward: Volume 2 delivers what the editors promise: a scholarly forum for the development of an intersectional perspective that extends our awareness of how women are moving beyond victimhood. This is a book that both inspires and challenges the reader!” Nancy Borkowski, D.B.A., C.P.A., Associate Professor and Dean of Academic Affairs, South University (West Palm Beach, Florida) “Women Moving Forward-Volume 2 is a cornucopia of issues and ideas, offered by diverse voices that lay the ground work for new ways of thinking and meaning making. Judith Barr Bachay and Raúl Fernández-Calienes are opening up spaces for an intersectional analysis that includes the unique experience of women. This is a must-read for social workers, academics, and human rights activists who want to learn about and from women who are claiming their place in every aspect of the world arena. I can't wait to meet and learn from the authors of Volume 3!” Carol Heinisch, M.A., M.S.W., Social Worker, Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office (Denver, Colorado) “This is a weaving of stories that speaks centrally to hope, fortitude, resilience, identity, and compassion amongst women. Within these writings is a central theme of finding meaning in adversity, promoting advocacy and justice, and fostering dignity in the human community through access and opportunity. Robert Coles posits, what we need is a respect “for narrative as everyone’s rock-bottom capacity, but also as a universal gift, to be shared with others.” These writings are a validation of our experiences and journeys to overcome struggles as women. Yet, narrative alone is not enough, as many of us know who have taken on these challenges of transforming communities and systems. Change occurs through the actions and resolve of individuals who courageously take on these issues. Assuredly, in this text, you’ll find this scale of synergistic energy as well. L. Sunny Hansen uses a poignant metaphor that “we are all quilters on this planet, seeking to understand, value, and connect with each other in a sustainable future free from violence.” Identifying where you fit into this “quilt” is, in part, what the authors writing here want you to examine. Urging you into identifying the essential role you might play in “sewing” together a better future for all humanity.” Heather Zeng, Ph.D., Human Resource Development Consultant / Career Counselo, (Freemont, California) “Significantly real world, unrelenting, and ultra-compelling are but a few defining indicators to describe these writings. This discriminating collection expresses the decisive dimensions that embody grassroots to global settings. From the evidenced shared aims of humanity reflected in the versatile matter-of-fact life experiences to the clearly conveyed urgent need for immediate involvement, these treatises are foundational to halting and de-fragmenting the variant layers of widespread colonial and post-colonial systems of injustice. To arrest this worldwide convention of minority-majority dissent, cultural hegemony, warfare, gendered suffrage and the socio-economic-politics against civilization, will require a revolution of sorts. This integral text establishes a wide-ranging view towards that negotiation and resolve and further presents a medium of critical reasoning to execute social reconstruction to dismantle the inequality that wrongly saturates macro to micro communities. No matter what societal position validates your being, this profound volume is a must read.” Arnold Munroe, Ed.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, Educational Studies Department, University of Central Florida (Orlando, Florida) “This book illustrates the profoundly personal quest of “women moving forward” despite the burden of geopolitical place, structural and cultural constraints, economic hardship, and gender. The whole balances a celebration of localized and personalized advancements with a portrait of daily struggles for justice. Women write of finding strength in their families, ethnicities, culture, and spiritual beliefs, while confronting unequal footing in personal and professional spaces and private and public places. This work offers inspiration, as well as critical assessments of what women have endured, what they are enduring, and for what they are striving.” Patricia Widener, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Florida Atlantic University (Davie, Florida) “This uplifting book engages with the dilemmas and joys facing all those women who, at some time in their lives, have had to cross borders of one sort or another. The United States is the point of arrival for most contributors, and their earlier experiences—as immigrant, refugee or displaced person, as educational or health migrant, or as seeker after freedom and opportunity—emerge vividly from every page. The rich cultural diversity of this volume extends to Latin America, Jamaica, Palestine, Africa and Finland with a series of thought-provoking tales of sorrow, hope and, particularly, of faith. Interdisciplinary contributions include fields as diverse as traumatic exposure, second language acquisition and human trafficking. Women Moving Forward provides an essential source—not only an inspiration to those women still forced to follow similar paths but a necessary stimulant to evoking understanding, sympathy and support from those whose way has been less traumatic. It will be rewarding reading for all.” Brenda Bolton, University of London (London, England, U.K.)

An inspiring collection of interviews with 40 successful and empowering women—including Maya Angelou and Jane Fonda—as they reflect on their challenges and achievements “Remarkable questions answered by remarkable women . . . A fascinating collection.” —Maya Angelou In this empowering book, 40 amazing women who have exerted an influence on others in many different ways discuss their work, their achievements, their hopes and their fears, offering women everywhere inspiration and optimism for the future through their fascinating explanations of what they have achieved. Featuring politicians, environmentalists, humanitarians, entrepreneurs, musicians, artists, actors, world leaders and Nobel Peace Prize winners, this book encourages readers to believe that they can achieve their greatest ambitions and help change the world for the better. The book is structured around ten questions, with the 40 interviewees providing a pithy and insightful answer to each one. Topics range from influential early experiences, inspirations in life and most admired female figures to causes of anger, greatest fears, how to change the world and advice for the younger generation. The full list of powerful women featured in the book is as follows: Isabel Allende, Christiane Amanpour, Maya Angelou, Hanan Ashrawi, Joan Baez, Benazir Bhutto, Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, Emma Bonino, Shami Chakrabarti, Jung Chang, Kate Clinton, Marie Colvin, Marion Cotillard, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Carla Del Ponte, Judi Dench, Shirin Ebadi, Tracey Emin, Jane Fonda, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Dagmar Havlová, Swanee Hunt, Bianca Jagger, Nataša Kandić, Kathy Kelly, Martha Lane Fox, Dame Ann Leslie, Professor Wangari Maathai, Mairead Maguire, Mary McAleese, Soledad O'Brien, Sinéad O'Connor, Yoko Ono, Mariane Pearl, Kim Phuc, Paloma Picasso, Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, Paula Rego, Louise Ridley, Mary Robinson, Jody Williams.