Three Frontiers

This book studies how, in the Far West, Americans moved from communal values to individualistic and exploitative ones.

Most Christians are unaware that there is such a thing as a biblical cosmology. That is, we do not have a clear idea of the whole of creation, both visible and invisible, its parts and realms, and how they fit together. We live by bits and pieces of conflicting notions supplied by the Bible and the secular world, and there is little comprehension of the overall design of reality and the all-embracing vision of creation that the Bible provides and the Church has taught for centuries. The matter seems too complex for the typical contemporary Christian and so the matter is dropped as irrelevant. The consequences are deadly; ignorance breeds arrogance, indifference, and finally spiritual death. The Little Book of Big Frontiers intends to make the complex issue of cosmology understandable. Vivid and ordinary stories and images are used to illustrate extremely difficult concepts that will open up new frontiers for the reader. Readers will come away with a whole new understanding of the cosmos and how it works, integrating the interior realties of the soul with the world around them, rediscovering realms that were once known to the early Christians but, alas, are now lost within the secularization of our culture.

The resources of both governments and traditional philanthropy are either barely growing or in decline, yet the problems of poverty, ill-health, and environmental degradation balloon daily. It is therefore increasingly clear that we urgently need new models for financing and promoting social and environmental objectives. Fortunately, a significant revolution appears to be underway on the frontiers of philanthropy and social investing, tapping not only philanthropy, but also private investment capital, and providing at least a partial response to this dilemma. This book examines the new actors and new tools that form the heart of this revolution, and shows how they are reshaping the way we go about supporting solutions to social and environmental problems throughout the world. With contributions from leading experts in the field, New Frontiers of Philanthropy provides a comprehensive analysis of the many new institutions that have surfaced on this new frontier of philanthropy and social investment; the new tools and instruments these institutions are bringing to bear; the challenges that these actors and tools still encounter; and the steps that are needed to maximize their impact. The result is a powerful and accessible guide to developments that are already bringing significant new resources into efforts to solve the world's problems of poverty, ill-health, and environmental degradation; unleashing new energies and new sources of ingenuity for social and environmental problem-solving; and generating new hope in an otherwise dismal scenario of lagging resources and resolve. Investors, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders, business executives, government officials, and students the world over will find much to build on in these pages.

"Abbott offers a fruitful new way to read science fiction, one that also greatly enriches our understanding of western history and its impact on our collective imagination. Detailing the overlap of science fiction and western fiction - especially relating to their mutual interest in and concerns about frontier expansionism - he reveals an unsuspected common ground that informs the writings of both camps." "Reviewing the work of many Hugo and Nebula Award winners, as well as drawing upon popular film and television series (like the Buck Rogers serials), Abbott's study journeys across the far reaches of science fiction's universe."

Historians of the American West, perhaps inspired by NAFTA and Internet communication, are expanding their intellectual horizons across borders north and south. This collection of essays functions as a how-to guide to comparative frontier research in the Americas. Frontiers specialist Richard W. Slatta presents topics, techniques, and methods that will intrigue social science professionals and western history buffs alike as he explores the frontiers of North and South America from Spanish colonial days into the twentieth century. The always popular cowboy is joined by the fascinating gaucho, llanero, vaquero, and charro as Slatta compares their work techniques, roundups, songs, tack, lingo, equestrian culture, and vices. We visit saloons and pulperias as well as plains and pampas, and Slatta expertly compares clothing, weather, terrain, diets, alcoholic beverages, card games, and military tactics. From primary records we learn how Europeans, Native Americans, and African Americans became the ranch hands, cowmen, and buckaroos of the Americas, and why their dependence on the ranch cattle industry kept them bachelors and landless peons.