They Are Us

By virtue of Lutheranism's spiritual heritage and identity in America as an immigrant church, Lutherans are specially placed to give hopeful leadership about the controversial issue of immigration in the United States today. They Are Us explores the biblical, historical, theological, and cultural foundations for Lutheran participation in a public conversation that has important implications for the future of this nation. Based on professional experience and grounded in Christian faith, the authors make the case for immigration reform and call the church to a mission of evangelical hospitality.

Winner of the 2015 RBC Taylor Prize Winner of the 2016 Forest of Reading® Evergreen Award™ After almost twenty years of caring for elderly parents—first for their senile father, and then for their cantankerous ninety-three-year-old mother—author Plum Johnson and her three younger brothers experience conflicted feelings of grief and relief when their mother, the surviving parent, dies. Now they must empty and sell the beloved family home, which hasn’t been de-cluttered in more than half a century. Twenty-three rooms bulge with history, antiques, and oxygen tanks. Plum remembers her loving but difficult parents who could not have been more different: the British father, a handsome, disciplined patriarch who nonetheless could not control his opinionated, extroverted Southern-belle wife who loved tennis and gin gimlets. The task consumes her, becoming more rewarding than she ever imagined. Items from childhood trigger memories of her eccentric family growing up in a small town on the shores of Lake Ontario in the 1950s and 60s. But unearthing new facts about her parents helps her reconcile those relationships with a more accepting perspective about who they were and what they valued. They Left Us Everything is a funny, touching memoir about the importance of preserving family history to make sense of the past and nurturing family bonds to safeguard the future.

“They Called Us Currahees” is not a stand-alone publication, yet serves as an invaluable compilation of historical information concerning the participation of the 101st Airborne Infantry Division in the Vietnam War. I have authored other companion books, which explain in greater detail the many incidents, battles, and missions involving the 3-506th Infantry “Currahees”. “The Stand Alone Battalion”, published in 2002 is a pictorial chronology of the 3-506 participation in the Vietnam War from 1967-1971. “My Gift To You”, published in 2006, contains the stories of those Currahees who died in Vietnam while serving with the 3-506 101st Airborne Division. The book, “Twelve Days In May”, released in 2010, explains in great detail the involvement of the 3-506, as well as the 4th Infantry Division Infantry Battalions and support units, in the northern thrust into Cambodia (Operation Binh Tay I) while OPCON to the 4th Infantry Division in May 1970. These companion books, together with “They Called Us Currahees” will give a comprehensive representation of combat in South Vietnam from the personal perspective of those who served with the 3-506 Infantry, fought the battles and suffered the many scars of war.

Seventeen-year-old Enrique "Quique" Luna decides to get over his crush on Saleem Kanazi before the end of summer by pursuing other romantic prospects, but he ends up discovering heartfelt truths about friendship, family, and himself.

Click this link to read a review of They Created Us. They Created Us is a family's journey through the disability world that begins with their second son's encounter with Hflu meningitis at six months of age. Through their journey, you will learn the complexities of the bureaucracy along with strategies to maneuver through a sometimes unresponsive system. Special Education, Medicaid Waivers, EPSDT, and Independent Case Management are all part of a family's world when their child experiences disabilities. This family's journey uncovers injustices and allows opportunity for basic rights to be realized throughout the systems that were put in place to help children with disabilities.

This 67-page report documents a wide-reaching campaign of extrajudicial executions, kidnappings, and torture of gay men that began in early 2009. The killings began in the vast Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, a stronghold of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, and spread to many cities across Iraq. Mahdi Army spokesmen have promoted fears about the "third sex" and the "feminization" of Iraq men, and suggested that militia action was the remedy. Some people told Human Rights Watch that Iraqi security forces have colluded and joined in the killing.--Publisher description.

Oryx & Crake meets Douglas Coupland. An unforgettable vision of the future of America. Years from now America finds itself split between the rich and the poor. The haves live in luxury within the small regions that remain unpolluted while the have-nots inhabit a toxic suburbia full of terrorism, crime and genetic mutations. Perhaps not all that different from today then? They Is Us tells the story of one family from the poor side as they go about their daily lives. Julie has a job as a summer intern at an animal laboratory. She can't resist taking home the discarded mutants and her house is filled with genetic cast offs. Her mother, Murielle, has kicked out her stepfather and now, seemingly from nowhere, finds herself subject to the attentions of multi-millionaire businessman A.J.M. Bishrop. Bishrop is only dating Murielle because he wants to get Julie's underage sister Tahnee into bed. Just your typical American family story. Set against a backdrop of increasingly invasive technology, growing pollution and the President of the USA's impending gay marriage (to be broadcast live across the nation) They Is Us features a cast of unforgettable characters that will stick in your mind long after you finish the book. Tama Janowitz has written a prophetic novel which is funny, and frequently hilarious, but is so uncannily believable that it is chilling to read. This really could be the future.

Mass protest movements in disparate places such as Greece, Argentina, and the United States ultimately share an agenda—to raise the question of what democracy should mean. These horizontalist movements, including Occupy, exercise and claim participatory democracy as the ground of revolutionary social change today. Written by two international activist intellectuals and based on extensive interviews with movement participants in Spain, Venezuela, Argentina, across the United States, and elsewhere, this book is an expansive portrait of the assemblies, direct democracy forums, and organizational forms championed by the new movements, as well as an analytical history of direct and participatory democracy from ancient Athens to Zuccotti Park. The new movements put forward the idea that liberal democracy is not democratic, nor was it ever.