The book developed from my gradual realization that spirituality was a normal characteristic in the human race, but that in recent millennia it had regressed in the everyday awareness of most people, especially those belonging to what they regarded as a cultural society. Only so-called primitive peoples retained a spiritual outlook. My book describes how this has come about, especially the negative influence of organized religions on individual spirituality, and the resulting deterioration...

Michael D. Higgins is one of Ireland's leading public intellectuals. As well as having made a significant contribution to public life, he is a prolific poet, whose work ranges from the personal to the political, and geographically from the west of Ireland to Nicaragua and the Middle East. Here, he has gathered together the very best of his poetic output over the years. In these poems, he casts a wry, compassionate eye on human weakness and resilience, and the centrality of love to all huma...

The Language of Journalism aims to provide an accessible, wide-ranging introductory textbook for a range of students. The book explores the significance of a range of linguistic practices occurring in journalism, demonstrating and facilitating the use of analysis in aiding professional journalistic and media practice.The book introduces the differences in language conventions that develop across media platforms. It covers all the key journalistic mediums available today, in...

“In this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, you will find John a “soul friend” on your own journey through life, offering support and solace, clarity, and consciousness—expanding narratives that invite you to experience relationships with people, nature, and even your inner world in new ways that nurture well-being and resilience in these challenging times.” —Daniel J. Siegel, MD, Neuropsychiatrist and New York Times Bestselling AuthorA special twenty-fifth anniversary edit...

Higgins plans an introductory chapter that will contextualize the Synod and explain why it’s special and potentially transformative. The book will also contain a day-by-day record of personalities, crises, behind-the-scenes politics, lapses, triumphs.

A fresh look at a complex pope with a simple agenda: radically reforming the Catholic Church.Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the consummate disruptor, disrupting archaic modes of church governance, disrupting our collective spiritual complacency in the face of new challenges to our human flourishing while at the same time remaining deeply faithful to the organic traditions of the church. He is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, but beyond that he is a universal lead...

All the beauty, magic and abundance in Nature is readily apparent, even in the most simplest of things; a leaf, a raindrop, or snow.Centred in your very being, without the usual distractions of the mind chatter, the brilliant perfection of the created Universe is perceived with pristine clarity.

Dave and Jay, best friends from Cleveland, Ohio, both grew up with one goal in mindgetting paid! Both being natural-born hustlers, money came easy to them. Managing the lifestyle that came along with it was the hard part. Dave, a husband and owner operator of the Reason, an inner-city nightclub adorned with exotic dancers, did his best to balance both lifestyles. He believed that he was doing a good job too. His wife, Tracie, who wasn't exactly a saint herself, seemed to think otherwise. E...

Exploring Wine Regions – Bordeaux France is the second book in its series taking you on a journey exploring the long and fascinating history of wine, gastronomy, castles and joie de vivre, the French way of living life.Bordeaux wines are presented by each region separately to better understand their nuances. We help you navigate your own way through this historic wine region with detailed maps, insider tips and by highlighting the chateaux, including the ones where you can stay in ...

Anthony Trollope’s novels contain vivid character sketches of clergy, from bishops to curates, as watchers of the BBC TV Barchester series will know. Here are priests where snobbery, jealousy, ambition and greed sit alongside love, kindness and generosity, often in equal measure.Alongside each of his twelve pictures of Trollopian priests, Michael Higgins has created their modern counterparts, Trollope’s Church of England may have been better attended and more prosperous th...

Why is rudeness such a prominent feature of contemporary broadcasting? If broadcasting is about the enactment of sociability, then how can we account for the fact that broadcasting has become a sphere of anger, humiliation, anger, dispute and upset? And to what extent does belligerence in broadcasting reflect broader social and cultural developments?This book reflects upon and analyses the development of 'belligerent broadcasting' beginning with an examination of belligerence in it...

In the Summer of 1943, the Allies were poised to invade Sicily. Yet the price would be high in blood and time—unless the island people rose in revolt against their Nazi oppressors.But only the Mafia could command an uprising, and Mafia supremo Antonia Luca hated everything American. Someone very persuasive indeed was needed to change his mind.And they didn’t come any more persuasive than the man known as Lucky Luciano.…“100 percent proof adventure” —New York Tim...