Life often evolves differently than we had hoped or expected. Some of life's transitions lead to a love we have only dreamed of, but others can traumatize and overwhelm us completely. As a result, we feel discouraged and disenchanted as we quietly start to wonder about the meaning of life.John Edwards understands this deeply as he takes us on an elegant, insightful, and profound journey of his personal experiences that are a jumping-off point for discussing how cultural, psychologi...

John Curtin became Australia’s Prime Minister eight weeks before Japan launched war in the Pacific.Curtin’s struggle for power against Joe Lyons and Bob Menzies, his dramatic use of it when he took office in October 1941, and his determination to be heard in Washington and London as Japan advanced, is a political epic unmatched in Australian experience. As Japan sank much of the Allied navy, advanced on the great British naval base at Singapore, and seized Australi...

Sociolinguistics deals with the social life of language, language in its sociocultural context. It is a branch of linguistics that looks less at the shape or sound of words--morphology or phonology--and more at how our words and sentences are influenced by the society around us--for instance, how the accent or the dialect we use has been shaped by where we come from or which social class we belong to. In this Very Short Introduction, John Edwards offers the most up-to-date brief overview a...

The first volume of John Curtin’s War was recognized as ‘a landmark in Australian political biography’ (The Australian) and ‘remarkable’ (AFR).That book ends with the fall of Singapore and a fundamental realignment of Australia’s place in the world: ‘The Americans were coming. So were the Japanese.’This second volume, ‘Triumph and Decline’, tells the full, fascinating story of the next four years, as Curtin leads Australia in meeting its enemy and its new ...

The language we use forms an important part of our sense of who we are - of our identity. This book outlines the relationship between our identity as members of groups - ethnic, national, religious and gender - and the language varieties important to each group. What is a language? What is a dialect? Are there such things as language 'rights'? Must every national group have its own unique language? How have languages, large and small, been used to spread religious ideas? Why have particula...

Multilingualism is everywhere in our globalised society. Delving into the 'social life' of languages, John Edwards provides a brief yet compelling overview of multilingualism and its sociocultural implications and consequences. Covering major topics including language origins, language death, lingua francas,pidgins, creoles and artificial languages, this book provides a complete introduction to what happens when languages meet.A vital primer for anybody interested in multili...

The elder daughter of Henry VIII, Mary I (1553-58) became England's ruler on the unexpected death of her brother Edward VI. Her short reign is one of the great potential turning points in the country's history. As a convinced Catholic and the wife of Philip II, king of Spain and the most powerful of all European monarchs, Mary could have completely changed her country's orbit, making it a province of the Habsburg Empire and obedient again to Rome.These extraordinary possibilities a...

Sociolinguistics deals with the social life of language, language in its sociocultural context. It is a branch of linguistics that looks less at the shape or sound of words--morphology or phonology--and more at how our words and sentences are influenced by the society around us--for instance, how the accent or the dialect we use has been shaped by where we come from or which social class we belong to. In this Very Short Introduction, John Edwards offers the most up-to-date brief overview a...

"Empowering Educators, Students, and Society for a Brighter Future."Uncover the journey and wisdom of Dr. John M. Edwards "JME"—a dedicated educator, leader, and advocate for empowerment in education. In What Lies Beyond Limits? Empowerment and Success, Dr. Edwards shares his inspiring life story, from his beginnings in Memphis to his influential roles in district and state education, and reveals how resilience, critical thinking, and empowerment theory ca...

The articles in this volume explore both individual and corporate aspects of religion in Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries - Jewish, Christian and Muslim. John Edwards looks in particular at the status, experience, and attitudes of the conversos, those who had converted to Christianity to avoid expulsion from Spain, and at the activities of the Inquisition. In the second part of the book he expands his analysis to examine the social, economic, and political basis of religious confli...

Break free of the layers of wounds, pain, and anger that are keeping you from living a life of passion and purpose.At age seven, every child's unconscious mind is programmed with self-limiting decisions, beliefs, and world-views. By thirteen, these programs are locked into the unconscious and operate in the background for the rest of his or her life.John Edwards takes you on a journey, exploring childhood trauma and how your trauma is alive and active in yo...

What kind of future do Australians have?Until the coronavirus pandemic, nearly two-thirds of Australians had never experienced an economic slump in their working lives. Indeed, nearly half were not yet born when the Australian economy last tipped into recession. Creating a path for Australia through these difficult times requires a careful assessment of where we have come from, where we are, and where we are going.This book, by one of Australia’s leading economic voices, ex...