It wasn't supposed to go this way...Charlotte didn't want to be stuck on a private island with her ex, Aiden, but couldn't think of a good enough excuse to get out of it.Aiden dreaded seeing Charlotte again and hoped that bringing a few friends would create a shield between him and his past.Sebastian was simply looking for a good time.None of them expected to learn lessons in temptation, desire, and release.While navigating the landmines of the recen...

Examines the rise of one of the most prolific spiritual leader of modern timesT.D. Jakes has emerged as one of the most prolific spiritual leaders of our time. He is pastor of one of the largest churches in the country, CEO of a multimillion dollar empire, the host of a television program, author of a dozen bestsellers, and the producer of two Grammy Award-nominated CDs and three critically acclaimed plays. In 2001 Time magazine featured Jakes on the cover ...

Why is there no "pro-sex" contingency in black feminist scholarship? Why do so few African-American scholars expound on issues celebrating female sexual pleasure? Perhaps the answers to these questions reside within a discursive matrix of sexual repression commonly referred to as the politics of respectability, and its rein on black sexual politics.In Erotic Revolutionaries: Black Women, Sexuality, and Popular Culture, sociologist Shayne Lee steers black sexual politics to...

Drawing on the mythology of the Green Man and the power of nature, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, and others serve up "a tasty treat for fantasy fans" ( Booklist).There are some "genuine gems" in this "enticing collection" of fifteen stories and three poems, all featuring "diverse takes on mythical beings associated with the protection of the natural world," most involving a teen's coming-of-age. Delia Sherman "takes readers into New York City's Central Park, wh...

This book explicates how many films intersect black suffering and God-talk in ways that instantiate secular limitations to divine efficacy. The book’s concept of a modern God introduces a new method of analysis that reimagines theodical discourses as mechanisms of modern identities and filmmakers as skillful exegetes who recalibrate divine attributes to the sensemaking cadences of their contemporaries. Shayne Lee demonstrates how cinematic theodicy navigates a happy medium between affirmin...

This updated third edition of the very successful Handbook of Physiology – Microcirculation highlights the central role of microcirculation in all major cardiovascular functions. As the primary site of oxygen and nutrient exchange in any tissue, the microcirculation is also where other important phenomena are regulated. These include, blood pressure, blood flow and inflammatory responses. As alterations in microvascular function are major contributors to a host of diseases, an und...

Tyler Perry is the most successful African-American filmmaker of his generation, garnering both accolades and controversies with each new film. In Tyler Perry’s America, Shayne Lee digs into eleven of Perry’s highest-grossing films to explore key themes of race, gender, class, and religion, and, ultimately, to discuss what Perry’s films reveal about contemporary African-American life.Filled with slapstick humor, musical wizardry, and religious imagery, Tyler Perry’s films have insp...

Joel Osteen, Paula White, T. D. Jakes, Rick Warren, and Brian McLaren pastor some the largest churches in the nation, lead vast spiritual networks, write best-selling books, and are among the most influential preachers in American Protestantism today. Spurred by the phenomenal appeal of these religious innovators, sociologist Shayne Lee and historian Phillip Luke Sinitiere investigate how they operate and how their style of religious expression fits into America’s cultural landscape. Drawi...