"A captivating exploration of the promise and burden of passionate love."- Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)American tour guide Joe Newhouse wants nothing more than to reach Venice. Since moving to Munich after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he's watched his business fail, his wife leave him, and his love for Europe diminish. Now he faces one last ten-day tour with a surly group that doesn't want to be there. As he leads them through the mythic lands o...

An intimate biography of the avant-garde poet and spiritual seeker who abandoned his career to join the circus and live among fishermen in Greece.Robert Lax inspired Thomas Merton, Jack Kerouac, William Maxwell and many others with his quest to live a true life as both an artist and a spiritual seeker. Known in Europe as a avant-garde poet, Lax worked at The New Yorker, wrote Hollywood screenplays and edited a Paris literary journal—when he wasn't studying ...

The power of solitude to deepen a life.In his twenties, Michael N. McGregor traveled to the remote Greek island of Patmos to spend two winter months alone, 6,000 miles from home. It was a time before cellphones and the internet, when even a phone call was costly. Although he expected his solitude to be meaningful, he wasn’t prepared for how it would change him.Before his island days, McGregor had spent years reporting on the world’s poor and months on the r...

Robert Lax is one of the great experimental poets of the 20th century, a daring and original avant-garde writer who was sought out as a sage and a mentor. He was a circus performer, a clown and a juggler, and well known for being a close friend of Thomas Merton. McGregor knew and loved this man and wrote a biography to make this remarkable man’s life and works better known to more people.He says of Lax, “Robert Lax was the most significant person I’d ever met...I felt his life ...

Pure Act tells the story of poet Robert Lax, whose quest to live a true life as both an artist and a spiritual seeker inspired Thomas Merton, Jack Kerouac, William Maxwell and a host of other writers, artists and ordinary people. Known in the U.S. primarily as Merton’s best friend and in Europe as a daringly original avant-garde poet, Lax left behind a promising New York writing career to travel with a circus, live among immigrants in post-war Marseilles and settle on a series of remote Gr...

Social work is often presented as a benevolent and politically neutral profession, avoiding discussion about its sometimes troubling political histories.This book rethinks social work’s legacy and history of both political resistance and complicity with oppressive and punitive practices. Using a comparative approach with international case studies, the book uncovers the role of social workers in politically tense episodes of recent history, including the anti-racist struggle in the...

This book documents the dramatic changes in the field of electronic media in the past decade and provides informed insights in the exciting, and changes yet to come. It examines the transition in broadcasting from analog to digital transmission and the changing business models of electronic media.

Thomas Merton's lectures to the young monastics at the Abbey of Gethsemani provide a good look at Merton the scholar. A Course in Christian Mysticism gathers together, for the first time, the best of these talks into a spiritual, historical, and theological survey of Christian mysticism—from St. John's gospel to St. John of the Cross. Sixteen centuries are covered over thirteen lectures. A general introduction sets the scene for when and how the talks were prepared and for the per...

When disaster strikes, our instinctive response is to make things better, not only as individuals but also as groups, organisations, communities and major institutions within society.With increasing climate-related disasters and the potential for future global pandemics, philanthropy will continue to play an essential role. Yet our knowledge of how philanthropic responses to disasters are motivated, organised and received is fragmented.This book is a step toward curating ou...

Empire of Illusion: Gregor MacGregor and the Country That Never WasBy Quentin Drummond AndersonGregor MacGregor didn’t just commit a fraud.He created a country — and convinced people to believe in it.In the speculative fever of early nineteenth-century London, MacGregor sold land, issued bonds, and built the illusion of a thriving nation in Central America. Investors bought in. Families risked everything and set sail for a promised future.

The most beloved fairy tales of Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen, narrated by the very best of British stage and screen talent. Perfect for bedtime, the long car journey or rainy afternoons at home, let Andersen delight and enchant children (and adults) of all ages with characters that stand the test of time.The Princess and the Pea and the Steadfast Tin Soldier by Sir Roger MooreThe Little Match Girl by Ewan McGregorThe Ugly Duckling by Stephen FryThe...

In an attempt to reverse declining rates of voter participation, governments around the world are turning to electronic voting to improve the efficiency of vote counts, and increase the accessibility and equity of the voting process for electors who may face additional barriers. The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified this trend.Voting Online focuses on Canada, where the technology has been widely embraced by municipal governments with one of the highest rates of use in the ...