It had been a busy few days for Adolf Hitler, but Douglas Hyde had not slipped his mind … On 25 June 1938, Douglas Hyde became the first President of Ireland. His values stood in stark contrast to those of the continental dictator. As a Protestant nationalist and a leading figure in the language revival, he made the office an inclusive one and determined to be a president for all the people of Ireland. He also played a highly significant, but previously unheralded, role in the state's poli...

Integrating your spirituality and sexuality can be daunting - these parts of life can feel very separate, even contradictory. Activist, educator, relationship coach and co-founder of QueerTheology.com, Brian G. Murphy, is here to change that.Exploring the spiritual roots of polyamory and drawing on his own personal perspectives, Brian guides you through essential spiritual and relational notions including love, ritual, commitment and vulnerability to show how the practices of queer...

A story of tragedy at sea where every desperate act meant life or deathThe small ship making the Liverpool-to-New York trip in the early months of 1856 carried mail, crates of dry goods, and more than one hundred passengers, mostly Irish emigrants. Suddenly an iceberg tore the ship asunder and five lifeboats were lowered. As four lifeboats drifted into the fog and icy water, never to be heard from again, the last boat wrenched away from the sinking ship with a few b...

The essential introduction or reconnection to the Bible for queer readers from the co-founders of QueerTheology.com.“As we dove back into the story of creation in Genesis 1 and 2, trying to look at it with fresh eyes, I realized I had visited the Garden of Eden before. It was as if, like Saul, the scales had fallen off my eyes and suddenly I could see what had been there all along. The Bible has always been queer.”When Brian Murphy and Shannon L. Kearns cre...

"A riveting . . . saga of survival against formidable odds" ( Washington Post ) about the survivor of a World War II plane crash in Alaska's Yukon territory.Shortly before Christmas in 1943, five Army aviators left Alaska's Ladd Field on a routine flight to test their hastily retrofitted B-twenty-four Liberator in harsh winter conditions. The mission ended in a crash that claimed all but one—Leon Crane, a city kid from Phi...

The untold story of Leon Crane, the only surviving crew member of a World War II B-24 crash on a remote mountain near the Arctic Circle, who managed to stay alive 81 days in sub-zero temperature by making peace with nature, and end his ordeal by walking along a river to safety. Part World War II story, part Alaskan adventure story, part survival story, and even part inspirational story, this is what we call " a good read." This is the first full length retelling of Crane' s incredible surv...

Told in exquisite prose befitting one of the world's loveliest art forms, Brian Murphy eloquently chronicles how carpets embody humanity's endless striving for unattainable perfection.Every Persian carpet has a story to tell—from the remote villages of Afghanistan and Iran, down the ancient trade routes traveled for centuries, to the bazaars of Tehran and the markets of the Western world.Carpet-making is one of this tumultuous region's few constants, an art...

Packed with over 150 color photos, 28: A Photographic Tribute to Buster Posey captures the catcher's entire career, from the first time he stepped foot onto the field for the San Francisco Giants back in 2009 all the way to his final at-bat in 2021.Longtime sports photographer Brad Mangin teams up with Buster Posey himself in this visual celebration of the star catcher's 12 seasons with the San Francisco Giants. One of the most beloved players in Giants his...

Locked away in refrigerated vaults, sanitized by gas chambers, and secured within bombproof caverns deep under mountains are America’s most prized materials: the ever-expanding collection of records that now accompany each of us from birth to death. This data complex backs up and protects our most vital information against decay and destruction, and yet it binds us to corporate and government institutions whose power is also preserved in its bunkers, infrastructures, and sterilized spaces....

Rilla of Ingleside (1921) is the eighth of nine books in the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, but was the sixth "Anne" novel in publication order. This book draws the focus back onto a single character, Anne and Gilbert's youngest daughter Bertha Marilla "Rilla" Blythe. It has a more serious tone, as it takes place during World War I and the three Blythe boys—Jem, Walter, and Shirley—along with Rilla's sweetheart Ken Ford, and playmates Jerry Meredith and Carl Meredith—...

The San Francisco Giants won their third World Series in five years in 2014, and Championship Blood: The 2014 World Series Champion San Francisco Giants captures the season like no other book does. This large-format, jacketed, full-color photo book features the dynamic photographs of legendary Sports Illustrated photographer Brad Mangin. Paired with stories and essays by KNBR Sports Radio's Brian Murphy (of the "Murph and Mac" show), Championship Blood is sure to please anyone who consider...

Directly from the headlines: Even before it's mandated closer due to the Covid-19 virus epidemic, after spending billions of dollars, the American education system was in crisis. Students were not being prepared for anything except more years without adequate benefit and were turning off. Teachers were quitting in droves and taxpayers were losing faith in the schools they paid for with their taxes. And it's getting worse. This project is as explosive to the field of education as Rachel Car...