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The Last Interview: A Novel
by Eshkol NevoFrom the internationally best-selling author of Three Floors Up, a literary page-turner that delves into the deepening cracks in a carefully constructed public persona. A writer tries to answer a set of interview questions sent to him by a website editor. At first, they stick to the standard fare: Did you always know you would be a writer? How autobiographical are your books? Have you written any stories you would never publish? Usually his answers in these situations are measured, calculated, cautious. But this time, when his heart is about to break and his life is about to crumble, he finds he cannot tell anything but the truth. The naked, funny, sad, scandalous, politically incorrect truth.Every question the writer tackles opens a door to a hidden room of his life. And each of his answers reveals that at the heart of every truth, there is a lie—and vice versa. Surprising, bold, intimate, and utterly engrossing, The Last Interview shows just how tenuous the lines are between work and life, love and hate, fact and fiction. And in exploring the many, often contradictory facets of an Israeli author&’s identity, Eshkol Nevo also gives us a nuanced, thought-provoking portrait of a country at odds with itself.
The Last Jews in Baghdad: Remembering a Lost Homeland
by Nissim Rejwan foreword by Joel BeininOnce upon a time, Baghdad was home to a flourishing Jewish community. More than a third of the city's people were Jews, and Jewish customs and holidays helped set the pattern of Baghdad's cultural and commercial life. On the city's streets and in the bazaars, Jews, Muslims, and Christians-all native-born Iraqis-intermingled, speaking virtually the same colloquial Arabic and sharing a common sense of national identity. And then, almost overnight it seemed, the state of Israel was born, and lines were drawn between Jews and Arabs. Over the next couple of years, nearly the entire Jewish population of Baghdad fled their Iraqi homeland, never to return. In this beautifully written memoir, Nissim Rejwan recalls the lost Jewish community of Baghdad, in which he was a child and young man from the 1920s through 1951. He paints a minutely detailed picture of growing up in a barely middle-class family, dealing with a motley assortment of neighbors and landlords, struggling through the local schools, and finally discovering the pleasures of self-education and sexual awakening. Rejwan intertwines his personal story with the story of the cultural renaissance that was flowering in Baghdad during the years of his young manhood, describing how his work as a bookshop manager and a staff writer for the Iraq Times brought him friendships with many of the country's leading intellectual and literary figures. He rounds off his story by remembering how the political and cultural upheavals that accompanied the founding of Israel, as well as broad hints sent back by the first arrivals in the new state, left him with a deep ambivalence as he bid a last farewell to a homeland that had become hostile to its native Jews.
The Last Jews of Eastern Europe
by Yale StromIn striking photography and informative text, this volume both celebrates and mourns Eastern European Jewish life of the early- to mid-twentieth century.From Odessa to Budapest, Warsaw, Prague, and Sarajevo, the Jews of Eastern Europe established thriving, traditional communities . And while there are still proud Jews who keep the Kehilla robust in the region, they are a shadow of their former glory. In The Last Jews of Eastern Europe, Yale Strom and photographer Brian Blue record a way of life that largely disappeared through the torment, violence, and upheaval of the twentieth century. Through the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria, this volume records the three great blows to Eastern European Jewry: the historical persecution of the Jews who suffered the envy of their neighbors; the slaughter of millions during World War II; and the loss of those who accepted the aliyah to Israel. It also records how the Jews of Eastern Europe laugh, weep, and sing.
The Last Judgment: Christian Ethics in a Legal Culture
by Andrew SkotnickiIn a culture obsessed with law, judgment, and violence, this book challenges Christians to remember that Jesus urged his followers to judge no one, bring harm upon no one, and follow no law save the law of altruistic love. It traces Christian history first to show that Christians of an earlier age took very seriously the gospel injunctions against punitive legal judgment and then how the advent of formal legal codes and philosophical dualism undermined that perspective to create a division between a private Christian spirituality and a public morality of order and legally sanctioned violence. This historical approach is accompanied by an argument that the recovery of a Christian ethic based upon unconditional love and forgiveness cannot be accomplished without the renewal of a Christian spirituality that mirrors the contemplative spirituality of Jesus.
Last Judgment: Are We Living in the End of Days?
by Emanuel SwedenborgThe destruction of the world is not meant by the day of the last judgment. Those who have not known the spiritual sense of the Word, have understood that everything in the visible world will be destroyed in the day of the Last Judgment; for it is said that heaven and earth are then to perish, and that God will create a New Heaven and a New Earth.
Last Judgment Continued: Are We Living in the End of Days?
by Emanuel SwedenborgHeaven and hell are from the human race. All who have ever been born men from the beginning of creation, and are deceased, are either in heaven or in hell. The Last Judgment must be where all are together; therefore in the spiritual world, and not on the earth. The Last Judgment exists when the end of the church is; and the end of the church is when there is no faith, because there is no charity. All the things which are predicted in the Apocalypse are at this day fulfilled. The Last Judgment has been accomplished. Babylon and its destruction. The former heaven and its abolition. The state of the world and of the church hereafter. The subject of the Last Judgment is continued, principally that it may be known what the state of the world and the church was before the Last Judgment, and what the state of the world and the church has become since; also, how the Last Judgment was accomplished upon the Reformed.
Last Judgment Posthumous: Are We Living in the End of Days?
by Emanuel SwedenborgWhen the Last Judgment was being executed, the Protestants were then led into the middle, and they then appeared in this order: The English in the middle, the Dutch towards the east and south, the Germans more towards the north, the Swedes to the north and west in the middle. All then appeared according to their general genius as to the reception of good and truth.
Last Light
by Terri BlackstockBirmingham, Alabama, has lost all power. Its streets are jammed with cars that won’t start, its airport engulfed in flames from burning planes. All communications—cell phones, computers, even radios—are silent. Every home and business is dark. Is it a natural disaster . . . a terrorist attack . . . or something far worse? In the face of a crisis that sweeps an entire high-tech planet back to a time before electricity, the Branning family faces a choice. Will they hoard their possessions in order to survive—or trust God to provide as they share their resources with those around them? Yesterday’s world is gone. Family and community are all that remain. And the outage is revealing the worst in some. Desperation can be dangerous when a killer lives among them. New York Times bestselling suspense author Terri Blackstock weaves a masterful what-if novel in which global catastrophe reveals the darkness in human hearts—and lights the way to restoration for a self-centered world. “Blackstock is absolutely masterful at bringing spiritual dilemmas to the surface and allowing readers to wrestle with them alongside her characters.” —RT Book Reviews, 4.5 stars (of Dawn’s Light)
Last Light (Restoration Series, Book One)
by Terri BlackstockThe first book in Blackstock's Restoration series literally begins with a bang: airplanes fall out of the sky in the opening paragraphs, at which point the novel's protagonists and readers become swept up in a stunning set of circumstances, the import of which slowly sink in as the novel briskly moves forward. Unlike the deluge of dramatic depictions of the end times, in which Christians disappear and the world reacts, this story focuses on a natural phenomenon-albeit one that most of the characters believe is a message from God-that profoundly alters human society. Blackstock's main characters, the affluent Bannings, who live in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, initially react to this disaster by putting themselves first, for fear that any other strategy would endanger their lives. Soon, however, challenged by the Sermon on the Mount, they begin reaching out generously to neighbors. Their nascent attempts at a communal approach to life will likely be picked up in future novels in this series. Blackstock's subplots are less compelling than her vision of an Electromagnetic Pulse-damaged world; particularly contrived is the story's murder mystery, which plays out predictably. Still, at its best moments, this novel is in league with first-rate adventure fiction and bodes well for the series to come.
The Last Long Night (The Bregdan Chronicles #5)
by Ginny DyeCan they survive the Last, Long Night of the Civil War? The power of the Union army brings the South to its knees in surrender, but not until a year of intense pain and violence creates a chasm that may be impossible for the country to bridge. Carrie struggles to hold on to hope as the world caves in around her, hanging on to the promise she’s been given. She also finally gets to reveal the secret she has held so close. Moses is gravely wounded in battle. Aunt Abby faces danger as she gets more deeply involved with women’s rights, and spends time in Washington, D.C. Robert’s plantation takes a severe loss, but is saved from burning by an unlikely source. Rose continues to thrive in the Contraband Camp and finally has a dream come true.
Last Mango in Texas: A Novel
by Ray BlackstonTexas Tech student Kyle Mango is attending a fraternity party when he meets Gretchen, an artsy animal lover whose independent spirit immediately sparks his attention. But after a month of bliss, they suddenly find themselves in rough waters. When Kyle inherits four oil wells from his uncle, he sees his affluence as an opportunity to impress Gretchen. But just before he makes his move, Gretchen hears news of an oil tanker spilling its load near the coast of Alaska. Leaving Kyle behind in Texas, she joins a group of campus activists in Alaska for the summer to clean oil from suffering birds. Kyle is torn between managing his business--and being left lonely in the Lone Star state--and risking everything to fly to Alaska to pursue Gretchen. The young oil man soon discovers that oil slicks are nothing compared to relational slicks. The early bird may get the worm, but the oily bird can ruin romance! Through it all, Kyle explores faith in God and His power to change lives.
The Last Martin
by Jonathan FriesenThirteen year-old Martin Boyle, the most fearful hypochondriac born into a family of worriers, doesn’t want to visit the family cemetery. Truth is, none of the Boyles are thrilled about the annual trip to visit their war dead. It shames Mr. Boyle to think of his once courageous family line, and Mrs. Boyle is certain the greenish moss growing on the headstones carries disease. But after strict no-touch warnings from Mrs. Boyle (and an anti-bacterial scrub down), Martin ventures into the private cemetery for a grim remembrance. He’s surrounded by stones that bear his name. Martin, the Boyle family name, has been given to the firstborn male in each Boyle household for centuries. While his father offers a speech honoring Martins who have gone before, Martin wanders among his ancestors. Writing on the old headstones is hardly legible, and he scratches at birth and death dates with a stick. His analytical mind gravitates toward the numbers, and his stomach sinks. The pattern is clear: Martin 1770-1819. Martin 1819-1835. Martin 1835-1899. Martin 1899-1956. Martin 1956-1996. There’s always a Martin. Only one Martin. Martin panics. Not because he was born in 1996—that only fits—but because his uncle and aunt are expecting their first child, a boy, in three months. Tradition dictates they will name him Martin. He’s seen the graveyard. He has proof of the curse. When the next Martin is born, he’ll die. Martin’s parents believe the cemetery pattern is a coincidence, and a sign that their son needs professional help. It’s a belief that’s about to get stronger because their son, with the help of a homeless boy named Poole, is about to make his first decision of consequence: with twelve weeks until the baby’s arrival and no time to waste, Martin chooses to live. Little does he know that the key to his survival—the cornerstone of the curse—lies embedded
The Last Mufti of Iranian Kurdistan
by Ali EzzatyarAmidst changing notions of religion and identity in the modern Middle East, this book uncovers the hidden story of Ahmad Moftizadeh, the nonviolent religious leader of Iran's Kurds during the Iranian Revolution. The characters of Ayatollah Khomeini and a number of other prominent revolutionaries surface through never before heard first-hand accounts of that era's events. The author further surveys the underlying causes of conflict and extremism today by placing this dramatic biography in the context of a rapidly-evolving region after the First World War. The author's coverage of some of the twentieth century Middle East's most defining events leads him to powerful policy arguments for a region in turmoil.
The Last Odd Day
by Lynne HintonFrom the Bestselling Author of Friendship Cake Comes a Remarkable Story of Love, Loss, Infidelity, and Forgiveness
The Last of the Fathers: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux and the Encyclical Letter Doctor Mellifluus
by Thomas MertonA contextual portrait of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, along with Pope Pius XII’s encyclical letter on the Doctor of the Church.Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a dominant figure in the history of the Catholic Church and the last of the Church Fathers, died in his monastery in Burgundy on August 20, 1153. In commemoration of the eighth centenary of his death, Pope Pius XII issued one of his most significant encyclical letters—Doctor Mellifluus—which Thomas Merton presents here, together with an introduction to the life and teachings of the great mystic.The essence of Saint Bernard’s doctrine, Father Merton writes, is nothing else but the spiritual peace distilled in monasticism, and it is one of the purest and most authentic sources of Catholic tradition. Pius’s encyclical letter draws on that doctrine to bring the highest spiritual perfection within reach of all Christians.Praise for The Last of the Fathers“A study that will have to be on the shelves of all libraries and in the personal collections of all who are interested in spirituality . . . . Merton has provided an exquisite spiritual and intellectual setting for the jewel of the Encyclical [by Pope Pius XII].” —Catholic World
The Last of the Lascars: Yemeni Muslims in Britain, 1836-2012
by Mohammad Siddique Seddon"Dr. Seddon has contributed an important and fascinating chapter to the modern history of Britain. "#151;David Waines, emeritus professor of Islamic Studies, Lancaster University, UK Originally arriving as imperial oriental sailors and later as postcolonial labor migrants, Yemeni Muslims have lived in British ports and industrial cities from the mid-nineteenth century. They married local British wives, established a network of "Arab-only" boarding houses and cafes, and built Britain's first mosques and religious communities. Mohammed Siddique Seddon is lecturer in religious and Islamic studies at the department of theology and religious studies, University of Chester, England.
The Last of the Seven: A Novel of World War II
by Steven HartovA spellbinding novel of World War II based on the little-known history of the X Troop—a team of European Jews who escaped the Continent only to join the British Army and return home to exact their revenge on Hitler&’s military.A lone soldier wearing a German uniform stumbles into a British military camp in the North African desert with an incredible story to tell. He is the only survivor of an undercover operation meant to infiltrate a Nazi base, trading on the soldiers&’ perfect fluency in German. However, this man is not British-born but instead a German Jew seeking revenge for the deaths of his family back home in Berlin.As the Allies advance into Europe, the young lieutenant is brought to recover in Sicily. There he is recruited by a British major to join the newly formed X Troop, a commando unit composed of German and Austrian Jews training for a top secret mission at a nearby camp in the Sicilian hills. They are all &“lost boys,&” driven not by patriotism but by vengeance.Drawing on meticulous research into this unique group of soldiers, The Last of the Seven is a lyrical, propulsive historical novel perfect for readers of Mark Sullivan, Robert Harris and Alan Furst.
The Last Ottomans
by Kevin Featherstone Dimitris Papadimitriou Argyris MamarelisA new study of the international and local politics surrounding the Muslim minority of Western Thrace (Greece) in the 1940s, based on previously unseen archival material. Addresses the minority's complex identity, its relations with other communities in the area, the international diplomacy of WWII and strategic considerations of the Cold War.
The Last Photograph: A Story of Brothers
by Stephen BransfordThe Last Photograph will sweep you into the lives of two brothers coming of age in the American West of the 1960s. This is the story of the firstborn, Gordon, a tough and rebellious cowboy who loses his youth in Vietnam; of his brother Stephen, who reaches across the gulf between them after the war; and their unique father Griz, a rigid lumberjack- preacher who finally becomes their spiritual brother in a gripping and unforgettable climax. Here is a classic tale, dealing with rites of passage, shattering loss, and a whispered voice that completes the "unfinished business" between brothers. When a family hunting trip in the Idaho wilderness is proposed, Stephen hears a small voice in his heart telling him to restrain his competitive instincts and really look at his brother. As a writer and photographer, Stephen brings his unique gifts on the trail ride.
The Last Pope
by Robert HowellsNearly a thousand years ago the Archbishop of Armagh, later canonised as St Malachy, made a series of prophecies that were hidden in the Vatican for 400 years. His predictions gave clues to the identities of the 109 Popes from medieval times to present day, including the final Pope who would oversee the end of the Papacy and the fall of the Roman Catholic Church. The Last Pope examines the sudden 'rediscovery' of these prophecies in the 16th century and how they may have been used as propaganda in the campaign to promote Pope Gregory XIV to the papal throne. The book also explores the claim that the prophecies are forgeries. Ultimately, they stand or fall by their accuracy (after the time of their rediscovery), and there are many examples where, even in recent years, they have proven to be entirely correct. With Pope Benedict XVI we may have reached the penultimate Pope. According to the prophecies of St Malachy, the next Pope will be the last. In the final prophecy, St Malachy describes the last Pope as 'Peter the Roman'. By deduction, Robert Howells has identified which Cardinals are likely to be present at the next Vatican Conclave to choose a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.A favourite among them is a candidate who can readily be identified as 'Peter the Roman'. If he comes to power he may yet prove Malachy right, and oversee the fall of Rome and the destruction of the Catholic Church.
The Last Pope
by David OsbornIn the tradition of the classic bestseller The Shoes of the Fisherman, this evocative and moving novel takes you deep inside the inner world of the Vatican and the American branch of the Holy See to dramatize the great moral issues dividing the Church. The passing of humble and beloved Pope Gregory XVIII brings the Lords of the Church to the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome to meet in its secret recesses and elect a new pope. They find they must choose between a caring, but guilt-ridden, American cardinal (the very same young priest who made a heart-rending confession so many years ago) who would bring reforms to the Church, or a cardinal whose soul belongs to the Inquisition. At stake is the future of the Church itself.
The Last Princess: A Novel
by Cynthia FreemanThe New York Times–bestselling novel of a forbidden 1920s romance between a rebellious society woman and a Jewish writer from the author of No Time for Tears. In this evocative around-the-world tale of star-crossed love, Cynthia Freeman—the beloved author celebrated for her deft storytelling and understanding of family dynamics—takes readers on a whirlwind romance from Manhattan to Hollywood to the Israeli desert. Beautiful and well-bred, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, Lily Goodhue is a woman who, on the surface, has everything. Her impending marriage to the handsome scion of a distinguished New York family was to be the wedding of the decade. People called it a match made in heaven. Yet beneath the dazzling façade, she is haunted by a devastating childhood tragedy and a deep yearning for true love, for someone who will want her simply for who she is. It all appears to Lily one day, like the sun emerging from behind the clouds, when she meets Harry Kohle, an aspiring young writer and the son of a banker. Enthralled and blinded by love, Lily breaks off her engagement, runs off with Harry, and never looks back, dedicating herself to a love against all odds. Their act of passion will leave them both disinherited, facing the challenge of living a marriage day by day, through thick and thin, as the glittering Prohibition era gives way to the crushing years of the Great Depression and beyond. It is a love that will prove to be Lily&’s greatest trial—and triumph. With the same &“heartfelt, almost inspirational prose&” that made No Time for Tears an unforgettable read, The Last Princess is a ravishing, complex love story and a moving testament to the human spirit&’s ability to overcome life&’s sorrows (The New York Times Book Review).
The Last Puritans
by Margaret BendrothCongregationalists, the oldest group of American Protestants, are the heirs of New England's first founders. While they were key characters in the story of early American history, from Plymouth Rock and the founding of Harvard and Yale to the Revolutionary War, their luster and numbers have faded. But Margaret Bendroth's critical history of Congregationalism over the past two centuries reveals how the denomination is essential for understanding mainline Protestantism in the making. Bendroth chronicles how the New England Puritans, known for their moral and doctrinal rigor, came to be the antecedents of the United Church of Christ, one of the most liberal of all Protestant denominations today. The demands of competition in the American religious marketplace spurred Congregationalists, Bendroth argues, to face their distinctive history. By engaging deeply with their denomination's storied past, they recast their modern identity. The soul-searching took diverse forms--from letter writing and eloquent sermonizing to Pilgrim-celebrating Thanksgiving pageants--as Congregationalists renegotiated old obligations to their seventeenth-century spiritual ancestors. The result was a modern piety that stood a respectful but ironic distance from the past and made a crucial contribution to the American ethos of religious tolerance.
The Last Rabbi: Joseph Soloveitchik and Talmudic Tradition
by William KolbrenerJoseph Soloveitchik (1903-1993) was a major American Orthodox rabbi, Talmudist, philosopher, and theologian. In this new work, William Kolbrener takes on the Soloveitchik's controversial legacy and shows how he was torn between the traditionalist demands of his European ancestors and the trajectory of his own radical and often pluralist philosophy. A portrait of this self-professed "lonely man of faith" reveals him to be a reluctant modern who responds to the catastrophic trauma of personal and historical loss by underwriting an idiosyncratic, highly conservative conception of law that is distinct from his Talmudic predecessors, and also paves the way for a return to tradition that hinges on the ethical embrace of multiplicity. As Kolbrener melds these contradictions, he presents Soloveitchik as a good deal more complicated and conflicted than others have suggested. The Last Rabbi affords new perspective on the thought of this major Jewish philosopher and his ideas on the nature of religious authority, knowledge, and pluralism.
The Last Resistance
by Jacqueline RoseA bravura exploration of politics and writing in dark times In The Last Resistance, Jacqueline Rose explores the power of writing to create and transform our political lives. In particular, she examines the role of literature in the Zionist imagination: here, literature is presented as a unique form of dissidence, with the power to expose the unconscious of nations, and often proposing radical alternatives to their dominant pathways and beliefs. While Israel–Palestine is the repeated focus, The Last Resistance also turns to post-apartheid South Africa, to American national fantasy post-9/11, and to key moments for the understanding of Jewish culture and memory. Rose also underscores the importance of psychoanalysis, both historically in relation to the unfolding of world events, and as a tool of political understanding. Examining topics ranging from David Grossman, through W.G. Sebald, Freud, Nadine Gordimer, the concept of evil, and suicide bombers, The Last Resistance offers a unique way of responding to the crises of the times.