A guide to trails 60 minutes or 60 miles from Philadelphia, Best Hikes Near Philadelphia features useful trail specs and hike summaries accompanied by easy-to-read maps and stunning photos. More than just a guidebook, however, it also includes an extensive section on weather, trail etiquette, hiking with dogs, judging trail mileage, local flora and fauna, and the value of hikers lobbying for wilderness.

Over two thousand years ago, the Chinese sage Confucius proposed that “learning, and putting persistent learning into practice, is a great joy or pleasure.” In Learning of the Way (Daoxue), Dr. John E. Young presents, from a Confucian perspective, the rationale for engaging in traditional Chinese arts and practices.Dr. Young relies on his experience as a Chinese martial arts expert and professor emeritus to share the results of his comprehensive examination of the concept ...

A mere two years after achieving independence, South Sudan in 2013 descended into violent civil war, refuting US government claims that the country's succession was a major foreign policy success and would end endemic conflict. Worse was to follow when the international community declared famine in 2017. In the first book-length study of the South Sudan civil war, John Young draws on his close but critical relationship with the rebel SPLM-IO leadership to reveal the true dynamics of the co...

Church history can get into some extremely weighty matters very quickly. After all, when an author is diving into the good, bad, and ugly of human behavior, and then placing alongside those things considerations of religious faith and practice-always prime kindling for the fires of controversy in their own right-there will inevitably be plenty of serious stuff for the reader to think about. But church history can also be fun. In this volume, historian John Young guides the reader through s...

The story of the Masked Kid is my story at an early age when my parents "pulled up stakes" and moved to Colorado.My mother told me that Dad quit his job in middle management in Michigan and took us to a vacant lot in the Big Thompson Canyon. There he single-handedly built a house using skills he couldn't possibly have acquired in a suburban environment. I was three and a half years old when we arrived on that vacant lot.She said my life would have been entirely different an...

When Marshal Hong breaks the seals which generations of Taoist Masters have placed on the temple doors to hold back 108 incarcerated Demon Princes, powerful forces of disorder are released. One after another, brave men fall out with officialdom and are obliged to join the brotherhood of the rivers and lakes─the mixed company of heroes and vagabonds who live by their wits and their fighting skills. The story of The Broken Seals branches this way and that, following first one hero, then anot...

In a radical reflection, John Young contends that the US model of democracy has failed the Global South because its emphasis on the supremacy of market capitalism entails a loss of national sovereignty and a truncated notion of human rights that leaves little room for citizens' engagement or socioeconomic justice.The Global South needs democracy, but the US model does not address issues of national oppression or economic injustices by raising living standards and e...

In 2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ended one of Africa's most devastating civil wars and set the stage for the partition of Sudan, Africa's largest country. One of the most important peace agreements in African history, it has had decisive consequences for the entire Horn of Africa. Yet to date there has been little rigorous analysis as to why the parties signed the CPA, what strategies they adopted having signed the agreement, and the political consequences of state partitio...

In "Memoirs of John R. Young, Utah Pioneer, 1847," the author provides an intimate and compelling account of the challenges and triumphs faced by pioneers in the American West. Written in a clear and engaging prose style, Young's memoir captures the grit and determination of those seeking a new life in an untamed land. The text is set against the backdrop of the Mormon migration, reflecting the socio-religious context of the 19th century, as it intricately weaves personal anecdotes with hi...

The memoir covers John R. Young's childhood, his family's conversion to Mormonism, and their subsequent trials as they followed Brigham Young’s vision of establishing a new religious settlement in Utah. Young vividly describes the hardships of crossing the Great Plains, the perils of the journey, and the resilience of the early pioneers in overcoming adversity. His reflections on the challenges of frontier life provide valuable historical insight into the daily struggles and triumphs of th...

In a rapidly changing digital world, how can the church remain a place of belonging for all generations? During the COVID-19 pandemic, many older adults found themselves cut off from the communities that had long shaped their sense of meaning, identity, and belonging. As ministry moved into digital spaces, barriers of access and digital literacy made full participation difficult for many. This book explores that tension at the intersection of Scripture, aging, and digital ministry. Drawing...

"John Young writes with the humor of David Sedaris and the insight and humanity of John Updike."?Aileen GreverThis often-comic novel is not 'Christian' or 'religious,' although the narrator is a 7-foot-tall minister … who becomes obsessed with growing the world's largest pumpkin.John Crackstone is cracking under the pressure of working with the wrong people in the wrong place. And he's aching for success.What begins as backyard lark swells into a hil...