Neighbors And Enemies

“Comprehensive and compelling...a landmark study” of the Arab-Zionist conflict, told from both sides, by the author of Israel’s Secret Wars (Sunday Times, UK). Setting the scene at the end of the nineteenth century, when the first Zionist settlers arrived in the Ottoman-ruled Holy Land, Black draws on a wide range of sources—from declassified documents to oral testimonies to his own vivid-on-the-ground reporting—to illuminate the most polarizing conflict of modern times. Beginning with the 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which the British government promised to favor the establishment of “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, Black proceeds through the Arab Rebellion of the late 1930s, the Nazi Holocaust, Israel’s independence and the Palestinian Nakba (catastrophe), the watershed of 1967 followed by the Palestinian re-awakening, Israel’s settlement project, two Intifadas, the Oslo Accords, and continued negotiations and violence up to today. Combining engaging narrative with political analysis and social and cultural insights, Enemies and Neighbors is both an accessible overview and a fascinating investigation into the deeper truths of a furiously contested history.

Publisher Description

Throughout the ages, small nations struggled valiantly against a series of imperial powers - Ottoman Turkey, Habsburg Austria, imperial Germany, czarist Russia, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union - and they lost regularly. Johnson's account is present-minded in the best sense: in describing actual historical events, he illustrates the ways they have been remembered, and how they contribute to the national assumptions that still drive European politics today.

Every day, my neighbor tells me to have a good morning. Every day, I tell him to f*ck off. Kyle Lane is the town’s hottest cop. He’s also the man I’ve despised since high school. Each morning, he stands on his porch with an annoying smirk on his perfect face. He’s made it his life’s mission to get under my skin. Until one day, he’s no longer on his porch but on mine. He claims he wants to redeem himself for ruining my reputation. My instincts tell me to stay away, but with each morning he shows up, it becomes harder and harder to resist his charm. I was never supposed to fall in love with my neighbor and once he finds out my secret, we’ll forever be enemies. (An enemies to lover romance.)

A hopeful single mom moves to the Houston suburbs to start anew, only to find a new adversary in the HOA. Amelia Marsh relocates with her two young kids to a northern suburb of Houston after a brutal divorce. All she wants is a bit of normalcy for her children. The last thing she needs is to be the center of a disagreement with the HOA representative. Believe it or not, her children's garden gnome is accused of violating the association's rules. No way is Amelia backing down on this one. Gnomegate? Really? HOA President Kyle Sanders would be a good friend—or even something more—if Amelia wasn't gearing up for battle with the HOA in her determination to make her house a home and her neighborhood a community... "An excellent read and a surefire hit for those looking to beat the heat this summer." —Library Journal

Jesus commands us to love our neighbors. So why are so many Christians taught to fear their neighbors? The American church is known as a people who are afraid, who have been nurtured through fear into hatred, and who have moved from hatred to violence--or at least to neglect. This fear, too often lived out boldly in the name of Jesus, is a false religion. God instructs us to welcome strangers. We are not to withhold hospitality or help from anyone in need. So why do we fear strangers, especially those needing hospitality, afraid that their presence may threaten what we have? Jesus taught us to love our enemies. We are to pray for those who actively harm us. Instead, we create enemies in our minds, seeing anyone who thinks, believes, looks, or lives differently from us as dangerous, a threat to our way of living. The Christian community exists to declare and demonstrate God's love and to follow Jesus in practicing love over fear, even in unsafe times and places. It's time to reclaim our brave fear of God and risk transformative love for the sake of our neighbors, the strangers among us, and our enemies. We are people of the Kingdom. Fearing Bravely teaches us that we have nothing to fear. Instead, we can respond to our fear problem with a brave love that emerges from choosing to let our fear of God overcome our fear of everything else. Catherine McNiel writes with conviction, wisely guiding us to recognize our fear and, with God's help, not let it limit us to love courageously all who are among us.

Despite being part of one of the most mobile societies in history, it's easy for us to feel stuck where we are. Whether because of a recent move or because we're still in the exact same place we've been for years, many of us just aren't where we thought we'd be or doing what we thought we'd be doing. Sometimes we may wonder if God knows what he's doing. How can this be part of his plan? With enthusiasm and contagious joy, Shauna Pilgreen assures readers that, yes, God does have a plan and a purpose for them--right where they are. In fact, he sent them there. She invites readers to "live sent," showing them how to see their surroundings with fresh eyes and renewed energy. Weaving her own remarkable story with biblical habits readers can incorporate into their daily routines, Pilgreen equips us to reach out into our communities with God's love, knowing that our efforts are never in vain.

Fresh out of a failed engagement, Olivia Hales is in dire need of a fresh start. Tired of being the charming and accommodating girl that always gets stomped on, she’s determined to change her outlook on life.When she finds her dream job in a small town in California, she thinks she’s finally found her place in life. That is, until she meets her new neighbor. Roman Banks. Moody. Foul-mouthed. Jerk. And the hottest man on the planet. At a sprawling six foot five, he was coldly distant and physically intimidating. Not only was her new neighbor a God that was good with his hands, he was also a grade-A jerk. Trapped on the same street, sharing the same space together, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous, never-ending game of insults and pranks that result in the destruction of two perfectly good homes. The tension between them is as thick as the walls of their houses are thin. Roman’s touch burned like fire even when his words were ice, and both of them will stop at nothing to make the others life hell. In the midst of the pranks and the hate they harbor for each other, Olivia slowly pulls back the layers of the man next door and finds herself consumed with wanting to fix him and his past. When both enemies start to catch feelings for each other, Olivia finds herself hiding her own secrets, not wanting to lose another man in her life. Lines are drawn. Strict rules put into place. But that doesn’t stop Olivia from wanting to save the quiet, broody man next door. They say you’re supposed to love thy neighbor, but that was the furthest emotion she felt when thinking about Roman. Hate was all there was to their relationship. At the very least, that’s what she tried to tell herself. Hate Thy Neighbor is a full length Enemies-to-Lovers standalone.