In A Brother S Eyes

'My Brother's Eyes' tells the sad but true story of a dangerous religious cult that operated in NSW. David and John wrote the book together as they believe people need to know how secretive religious groups operate and the damage they cause to families. In fact David was involved with the group from his late teenage years and didn't leave until his early 40s. Called 'Zion Full Salvation Ministry', the cult began as part of an inner city Anglican Church in Sydney NSW. It was founded by a woman who claimed to have Christ's stigmata and to be the embodiment of God on earth. When the woman died 16 years later, most of the 70 odd congregation had been stripped of their finances and investments and in many cases their self esteem too. 'My Brother's Eyes' is a troubling story but at least it has a happy ending as it tells the story of the separation of the brothers and then their eventual restoration. "True insight into the psychology of a sect both from the inside and the out is very rare. This account by two brothers is illuminating, fascinating and intelligent." - Bryce Courtenay "The Ayliffe saga is gripping, baffling, horrifying, and, most importantly, redemptive." - Phillip Yancey

The long-awaited second novel from David Chariandy, whose debut, Soucouyant, was nominated for nearly every major literary prize in Canada and published internationally. An intensely beautiful, searingly powerful, tightly constructed novel, Brother explores questions of masculinity, family, race, and identity as they are played out in a Scarborough housing complex during the sweltering heat and simmering violence of the summer of 1991. With shimmering prose and mesmerizing precision, David Chariandy takes us inside the lives of Michael and Francis. They are the sons of Trinidadian immigrants, their father has disappeared and their mother works double, sometimes triple shifts so her boys might fulfill the elusive promise of their adopted home. Coming of age in The Park, a cluster of town houses and leaning concrete towers in the disparaged outskirts of a sprawling city, Michael and Francis battle against the careless prejudices and low expectations that confront them as young men of black and brown ancestry -- teachers stream them into general classes; shopkeepers see them only as thieves; and strangers quicken their pace when the brothers are behind them. Always Michael and Francis escape into the cool air of the Rouge Valley, a scar of green wilderness that cuts through their neighbourhood, where they are free to imagine better lives for themselves. Propelled by the pulsing beats and styles of hip hop, Francis, the older of the two brothers, dreams of a future in music. Michael's dreams are of Aisha, the smartest girl in their high school whose own eyes are firmly set on a life elsewhere. But the bright hopes of all three are violently, irrevocably thwarted by a tragic shooting, and the police crackdown and suffocating suspicion that follow. With devastating emotional force David Chariandy, a unique and exciting voice in Canadian literature, crafts a heartbreaking and timely story about the profound love that exists between brothers and the senseless loss of lives cut short with the shot of a gun.

Set in the Deep South, In a Brother's Eyes: the Brant McLachlan Story takes place in a small Mississippi town where Friday night high school football is king, families stick together and true love is supposed to conquer all. In a Brother's Eyes is a Southern novel that focuses on the traditions prevalent in the South: its obsession with football, its strong sense of religion, and its close-knit communities. In a Brother's Eyes tells a story of triumph on the football field, but it is primarily a love story. It tells the story of a small, country town and their love affair with a high school quarterback whose outgoing personality and natural charm causes a town to fall in love with him, a family to adore him, and people to root for him even after he makes a decision that will threaten to destroy his relationship with his life-long girlfriend. In a Brother's Eyes is an emotional roller coaster ride full of laughter and tears. Throughout the course of the novel, Brant McLachlan's love for Jennifer Smith faces the ultimate test and leads to an emotional struggle that begs the question: does true love always prevail?

The fire of tyranny continues to burn in America and all over the world. The loss of jobs, erosion of our national borders and the death of the dollar are merely fractions of the problems brought upon us by greedy tyrants and America's refusal to repent. Our children are looking at a bleak future unless we break the grip of oppression and turn our country around right now! America has stood as the symbol of freedom for many years, but such freedom is coming to an end unless we get up the guts and backbone to fight. There is a resistance boiling in America that has the fortitude to take a stand against intrusive government and the destruction of our Constitution. This resistance will give Big Brother a bloody nose and a black eye.

No matter what we would make of Jesus, says Schalom Ben-Chorin, he was first a Jewish man in a Jewish land. Brother Jesus leads us through the twists and turns of history to reveal the figure who extends a "brotherly hand" to the author as a fellow Jew. Ben-Chorin's reach is astounding as he moves easily between literature, law, etymology, psychology, and theology to recover "Jesus' picture from the Christian overpainting." A commanding scholar of the historical Jesus who also devoted his life to widening Jewish-Christian dialogue, Ben-Chorin ranges across such events as the wedding at Cana, the Last Supper, and the crucifixion to reveal, in contemporary Christianity, traces of the Jewish codes and customs in which Jesus was immersed. Not only do we see how and why these events also resonate with Jews, but we are brought closer to Christianity in its primitive state: radical, directionless, even pagan. Early in his book, Ben-Chorin writes, "the belief of Jesus unifies us, but the belief in Jesus divides us." It is the kind of paradox from which arise endless questions or, as Ben-Chorin would have it, endless opportunities for Jews and Christians to come together for meaningful, mutual discovery.

In the first anthology of its kind, Lila Azam Zanganeh argues that although Iran looms large in the American imagination, it is grossly misunderstood-seen either as the third pillar of Bush's infamous "axis of evil" or as a nation teeming with youths clamoring for revolution. This collection showcases the real scope and complexity of Iran through the work of a stellar group of contributors-including Azar Nafisi and with original art by Marjane Satrapi. Their collective goal is to counter the many existing cultural and political clichés about Iran. Some of the pieces concern feminism, sexuality, or eroticism under the Islamic Republic; others are unorthodox political testimonies or about race and religion. Almost all these contributors have broken artistic and cultural taboos in their work. Journalist Reza Aslan, author of No God But God, explains why Iran is not a theocracy but, rather, a "mullahcracy." Mehrangiz Kar, a lawyer and human rights activist who was jailed in Iran and is currently a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, argues that the Iranian Revolution actually engendered the birth of feminism in Iran. Journalist Azadeh Moaveni reveals the underground parties and sex culture in Tehran, while Gelareh Asayesh, author of Saffron Sky, writes poignantly on why Iranians are not considered white in America, even though they think they are. Poet and writer Naghmeh Zarbafian expounds on the surreal experience of reading censored books in Iran, while Roya Hakakian, author of Journey from the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran, recalls the happy days of Iranian Jews. With a sharp, incisive introduction by Lila Azam Zanganeh, this diverse collection will alter what you thought you knew about Iran. "My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes aims to corrode fixed ideas and turns cultural and political clichés on their heads . . . Iranians themselves live in a complex and schizophrenic reality, at a surreal crossroads between political Islam and satellite television, massive national oil revenues, and searing social inequalities."--From the Introduction by Lila Azam Zanganeh Contributors include: Azar Nafisi, author of the best-selling Reading Lolita in Tehran, Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, Shirin Neshat, internationally acclaimed visual artist, Abbas Kiarostami, award-winning filmmaker of Taste of Cherry, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Oscar nominee for House of Sand and Fog, Azadeh Moaveni, author of Lipstick Jihad