The Promise Of Joy

The Promise of Happiness is a provocative cultural critique of the imperative to be happy. It asks what follows when we make our desires and even our own happiness conditional on the happiness of others: “I just want you to be happy”; “I’m happy if you’re happy.” Combining philosophy and feminist cultural studies, Sara Ahmed reveals the affective and moral work performed by the “happiness duty,” the expectation that we will be made happy by taking part in that which is deemed good, and that by being happy ourselves, we will make others happy. Ahmed maintains that happiness is a promise that directs us toward certain life choices and away from others. Happiness is promised to those willing to live their lives in the right way. Ahmed draws on the intellectual history of happiness, from classical accounts of ethics as the good life, through seventeenth-century writings on affect and the passions, eighteenth-century debates on virtue and education, and nineteenth-century utilitarianism. She engages with feminist, antiracist, and queer critics who have shown how happiness is used to justify social oppression, and how challenging oppression causes unhappiness. Reading novels and films including Mrs. Dalloway, The Well of Loneliness, Bend It Like Beckham, and Children of Men, Ahmed considers the plight of the figures who challenge and are challenged by the attribution of happiness to particular objects or social ideals: the feminist killjoy, the unhappy queer, the angry black woman, and the melancholic migrant. Through her readings she raises critical questions about the moral order imposed by the injunction to be happy.

A thriller in the series that began with #1 New York Times bestseller, “one of the finest and most gripping political novels of our era”(The New York Times). The Advise and Consent series is a landmark of political fiction, displaying a depth of insider Washington knowledge and a canvas of compelling characters that catapulted each novel to the top of the bestseller lists. At the end of the previous novel, Preserve and Protect, Allen Drury left his readers with one of the greatest cliffhangers of all time. After an assassin’s bullet rings out, we are left to wonder who was killed—the Liberal Vice President Ted Jason, or staunch Conservative Presidential Candidate Orrin Knox? The answer to that question was so large that Pulitzer-Prize winner Drury had to write two novels, one exploring the full ramifications of each outcome. In The Promise of Joy, with his Vice President Ted Jason and his wife Beth Knox dead at the hands of an assassin, newly elected President Orrin Knox contends with a game of one-upmanship between the Soviet Union and China. The United States, guided by Knox’s inflexible will, begins to assist rebels seeking to break away from their Communist overlords, despite mounting pressure from the international community and within the U.S. When nuclear war breaks out between Russia and China, President Orrin Knox, aided and opposed by the media, senators, congressmen, cabinet officials, ambassadors, and the people, must act to safeguard peace and democracy in America and the entire world.

An addicted child. It could well be a family's worst nightmare. Faith is challenged, peace an impossibility, and authentic joy seems beyond reach. Fear becomes an unwelcome companion on a most difficult journey and breeds the persistent question, "Is my child going to be OK?" Have you asked God to see you through a particular struggle, but circumstances have you questioning His goodness? Do you long to experience hope, love, peace and joy in your own story? Are you willing to let go of your plans and desires and trust God, no matter the outcome? The Promise: Joy Through the Brokenness invites you to travel with our family down the dark road of addiction and to celebrate the many blessings God has and continues to lavish on us along the way.

Think God doesn’t want you to be happy? Think again. We know that we will experience unimaginable joy and happiness in Heaven, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also experience joy and happiness here on earth. In God’s Promise of Happiness, bestselling author and noted theologian Randy Alcorn shares select passages and scripture from his latest hardcover release, Happiness, that provide insight, wisdom, and proof positive that God not only wants us to be happy, he commands it!

I wasn't surprised when my grandma promised me she'd contact me from the after-life. Gram was born during the Progressive Era in Greenwich Village and she was one enlightened lady. Whether or not she'd make good on her promise was the part I struggled with. Believing in spirits and mediums were plots of TV movies, not the journey I'd expected to take in suburbia New York. Stricken with multiple deaths and reeling in grief, I wondered, why are we here and where do we go? These questions triggered memories of my own past psychic experiences and peculiar premonitions. I suspected those supernatural adventures prepared me for the ultimate test of faith with Gram. Longing for a spiritual connection to her and to something deeper and more profound in my life, grieving and soul searching took me to unexpected places. I questioned the surety of my life as I knew it and wondered would Gram keep her promise of a divine message and would I be open enough to receive it? The Butterfly Promise is a deeply moving, often witty, memoir about loss, relationships and soul defining love. Through the author's authentic voice, we accompany her through her losses, self-doubts and her quest to find truth and light in dark times. Readers can feel the bond between Gram and her granddaughter, "Totie" and the fear of losing the family member that means everything. Gram was a lady ahead of her time who never lost sight of true love despite her own losses in life and was determined to give her granddaughter the ultimate test of faith and testament of love through a solemn promise. Through a literary kaleidoscope of theories and revelations, we root for "Totie" to rise up from her sadness and find the answer to life's greatest question, "Does the soul live on after we die?" The Butterfly Promise is a timeless story reminding us of the bonds we share as humans and the infinite journey the soul must take alone and how both can help us heal.

The Final Chapter From Billy Graham While his earthly vision dims, the glory of heaven is illuminated as Billy Graham, the beloved evangelist, shares from his past, and his present, the reality of eternity. Although Billy Graham may no longer preach from the stadiums of the world, in this book you will sense his heart still beats strong with the resounding assurance that he will spend eternity with Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. In Where I Am, Mr. Graham invites and strongly encourages all of us to contemplate our eternal hope. When asked, “Where is Heaven?” Mr. Graham has wisely replied, “Heaven is where Jesus Christ is, and I’m going to Him soon.” The greatest promise ever given to the human race came from the lips of our Redeemer when Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me...I go to prepare a place for you...I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1–3). Just after his ninety-fifth birthday, Mr. Graham proclaimed with resolve, “When I die, tell others that I’ve gone to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—that’s where I am.” Flap Copy: As our nation and world travail in the midst of political, economic, and cultural uncertainties, we can find comfort in the hope that comes from the unchanging truth of God’s Word. Whether talking with a US president, a world leader, or the common man or being interviewed on network television, Billy Graham has always begun his answers with “The Bible says…” In Where I Am, Mr. Graham shares what the Bible has to say about eternity from all of its sixty-six books; messages of truth, warning, love, and the certainty of the future, all gleaned by a man who would like to be remembered solely as a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Each short chapter examines the reality that each of us chooses where to spend life after death: Heaven or Hell. From the Old Testament writer who composed “Show me Your ways, O Lord” (Psalm 25:4) to the New Testament writer who penned the words of Jesus, “Whoever believes in [Me] should not perish” (John 3:16), there is hope for anyone who puts his or her faith and trust in the One who gives us the promise, “Where I am, there you may be also” (14:3).