At a time when her friends were planning cushy retirements, Nancy Wesson instead walked away from a comfortable life and business to head out as a Peace Corps Volunteer in post-war Northern Uganda. She embraced wholeheartedly the grand adventure of living in a radically different culture, while turning old skills into wisdom. Returning home becomes a surreal experience in trying to reconcile a life that no longer "fits." This becomes the catalyst for new revelations about family wounds, my...

Jessica Alexander arrived in Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide as an idealistic intern, eager to contribute to the work of the international humanitarian aid community. But the world that she encountered in the field was dramatically different than anything she could have imagined. It was messy, chaotic, and difficult—but she was hooked.In this honest and irreverent memoir, she introduces readers to the realities of life as an aid worker. We watch as she manages a 24,000-...

"Doubts and misgivings about life after death can be set aside with the gift of this special book." (Dr. Austin Ritterspach, Religious Studies, Indiana University)In How I Died (and what I did next), an woman office worker dies in the North Tower on 9/11. A little girl is drowned in the 2004 Indonesian tsunami. A Canadian man is run over by a bus. A Vietnamese diplomat is tortured and shot. A Chinese woman dies having a back-street abortion, a drunken Brazilian playboy drives his c...

Lisa J. Shannon had a good life—a successful business, a fiancé, a home, and security. Then, one day in 2005, an episode of Oprah changed all that. The show focused on women in Congo, the worst place on earth to be a woman. She was awakened to the atrocities there—millions dead, women raped and tortured daily, and children dying in shocking numbers. Shannon felt called to do something. And she did. A Thousand Sisters is her inspiring memoir. She raised money to sponsor Co...

How do you inspire a whole generation; how do you weave words, hit the innermost yearnings of your audience, say little but blow their minds; and then get a standing ovation in the end? How do youleavea crowd basking in rivers of nostalgic effervescence, floating in bright shining clouds of euphoric imagination long after your exit from the stage? These are the kinds of questions wannabe public speakers ponder upon in their sleep and waking moments. Is Adolf Hitler special; is Abraham Linc...

In 1961, Michael Rockefeller, son of then-governor of New York State Nelson A. Rockefeller, mysteriously disappeared off the remote coast of southern New Guinea. Amid the glare of international public interest, the governor, along with his daughter Mary, Michael's twin, set off on a futile search, only to return empty handed and empty hearted. What followed were Mary's twenty-seven-year repression of her grief and an unconscious denial of her twin's death, which haunted her relationships a...

"Jason Porter could find a place on the shelf beside Richard Brautigan, George Saunders, and David Sedaris. This is a quick, odd, wonderful book, one that pinned me back on my heels and made me laugh."–Colum McCann, author of Let the Great World SpinHave we all sunken into a species-wide bout of clinical depression?Porter’s uproarious, intelligent debut centers on Raymond Champs, an illustrator of assembly manuals for a home furnish...

In this powerful, redemptive true story, a young man living on the edge of survival is transformed into a healing presence in the lives of all he touches.At age ten, Peter Mutabazi ran away from home. For five years he survived on the streets of Kampala, Uganda, a city of 1.5 million, until one man saw potential in him. This man not only supported Peter through school but forever altered Peter's outlook in every possible way.Since then, Peter's turnaround s...

Family, friendship, and the spirit of giving are at the heart of this inspiring picture book. Opening in Depression-era New York, The Carpenter's Gift tells the story of eight-year-old Henry and his out-of-work father selling Christmas trees in Manhattan. They give one of their leftover trees to construction workers building Rockefeller Center. That tree becomes the first Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, the finest Henry has seen when adorned with homemade decorations. Henry wis...

The author says DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. unless you want to spend the day laughing out loud while being inspired by Africa and the Peace Corps In 2008, Dr. Doran and his wife made the extraordinary decision to leave the comforts of America to join the United States Peace Corps. Assigned to Africa for two years, they participated in the fight against HIV in Botswana, a country which has the second highest incidence of HIV in the world. On one level, this is an inspiring chronicle of their wor...

A Fascinating and Funny Coming-of-Age Story set in the PhilippinesThis humorous coming-of-age memoir follows the author from kindergarten through high school and college to his own experiences as a young teacher. Set in Manila, it explores universal themes of friendship, love, school life, depression, academic struggles and personal successes. A National Bestseller in the Philippines, the book also includes illustrations by award-winning cartoonist Freely ...

"And miraculously, just like your God—the smuggler—had told you, you get a lift to the police station, straight to the Refugee Camp, or to the Ministry of Home Affairs to declare yourself . . . you think—wish—it was your time to relax. But no, there is much more coming your way."Travel with a young refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo on a journey of resilience and growth. He lives in two refugee camps. He strives to get education and to empower himself and his peers in th...