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Invisible boy : a memoir of self-discovery / by Mooney, Harrison,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A narrative that amplifies a voice rarely heard--that of the child at the centre of a transracial adoption--and a searing account of being raised by religious fundamentalists. Harrison Mooney was born to a West African mother and adopted as an infant by a white evangelical family. Growing up as a Black child, Harry's racial identity is mocked and derided, while at the same time he is made to participate in the fervour of his family's revivalist church. Confused and crushed by fundamentalist dogma and consistently abused for his colour, Harry must transition from child to young adult while navigating and surviving zealotry, paranoia and prejudice. After years of internalized anti-Blackness, Harry begins to redefine his terms and reconsider his history. His journey from white cult to Black consciousness culminates in a moving reunion with his biological mother, who waited twenty-five years for the chance to tell her son the truth: she wanted to keep him. This powerful memoir considers the controversial practice of transracial adoption from the perspective of families that are torn apart and children who are stripped of their culture, all in order to fill evangelical communities' demand for babies. Throughout this most timely tale of race, religion and displacement, Harrison Mooney's wry, evocative prose renders his deeply personal tale of identity accessible and light, giving us a Black coming-of-age narrative set in a world with little love for Black children."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Mooney, Harrison; Adoptees; Adoption; Black people; Black people;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Miracles and wonder : the historical mystery of Jesus / by Pagels, Elaine H.,1943-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."From a renowned National Book Award-winning scholar, an extraordinary new account of the life of Jesus that explores the mystery of how a poor young man inspired a religion that reshaped the world. Over the past two thousand years, countless personalities have been projected onto the enigma we know as Jesus: a first-century rabbi, capable of miraculous healing, or a magician faking cures; a Prophet, or a deluded visionary; a heretical Jew, or God in human form. In this groundbreaking work of accessible scholarship, Princeton University professor and bestselling author Elaine Pagels explores a wide range of sources -- including the Bible, the earliest reports of Jesus's life, and the secret "gnostic gospels," discovered in the 20th century -- to break down these contradictions and paint a richer and more complex portrait of Jesus in his own time than ever before. As Christians became the largest community of any religious tradition in the world, Pagels argues, people have constructed and reconstructed Jesus through the lens of imagination, his image shaped by the social, political, and economic challenges of their own time. But the most fascinating years of all were the early ones when a young Jewish man with a scanty following, executed humiliatingly as an insurrectionist, was transformed by his followers into the Jesus of Christianity. Powerfully written and drawing on decades of research, Miracles and Wonder is an essential history for anyone looking for a deeper understanding of Jesus and his monumental afterlife"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Jesus Christ;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The invention of good and evil : a world history of morality / by Sauer, Hanno,author.; Heinrich, Jo,translator.; translation of:Sauer, Hanno.Moral.English.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."What makes us moral beings? How do we decide what is good and what is evil? In the vein of Sapiens comes a grand history of our universal moral values at the moment of their greatest crisis. How did we learn to distinguish good from evil? Have we always been capable of doing so? And will we still be in the world to come? In this breathtaking book, ethics expert Hanno Sauer offers a great universal history of morality in the era of its darkest crisis. He finds that morality existed long before there was talk of God, religion, or philosophy. Its history is, first of all, the fruit of a process of natural selection, going back to the dawn of humanity, in the forests of East Africa which, five million years ago, thinned out owing to climate change. Among the early humans that came down from the trees, there were also our ancestors, who adapted to open spaces by organizing themselves into large groups. Under the pressure of environmental factors, morality emerges as the foundation for cooperation, a quality that is as precarious as it is essential to the survival of the species. Moving between paleontology and genetics, psychology and cognitive science, philosophy and evolutionism, Sauer traces a genealogy of morality and along the journey, marks the main moral transformations in the history of humanity. In the end, he concludes that millions of years of stratifications has led to the moral crisis of our present--and the only way to build a future together is to retrace our history."--
Subjects: Ethics;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Taking care : the story of nursing and its power to change our world / by DiGregorio, Sarah,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."In this sweeping cultural history of nursing from the Stone Age to the present, the critically acclaimed author of Early pays homage to the profession and makes an urgent call for change. Nurses have always been vital to human existence. A nurse was likely there when you were born and a nurse might well be there when you die. Familiar in hospitals and doctors' offices, these dedicated health professionals can also be found in schools, prisons, and people's homes; at summer camps; on cruise ships, and even at NASA. Yet despite being celebrated during the Covid-19 epidemic, nurses are often undermined and undervalued in ways that reflect misogyny and racism, and that extend to their working conditions--and affect the care available to everyone. But the potential power of nursing to create a healthier, more just world endures. The story of nursing is complicated. It is woven into war, plague, religion, the economy, and our individual lives in myriad ways. In Taking Care, journalist Sarah DiGregorio chronicles the lives of nurses past and tells the stories of those today--caregivers at the vital intersection of health care and community who are actively changing the world, often invisibly. An absorbing and empathetic work that combines storytelling with nuanced reporting, Taking Care examines how we have always tried to care for each other--the incredible ways we have succeeded and the ways in which we have failed. Fascinating, empowering and significant, it is a call for change and a love letter to the nurses of yesterday, today, and tomorrow."--
Subjects: Nursing;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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I felt the end before it came : memoirs of a queer ex-Jehovah's Witness / by Cox, Daniel Allen,author.;
Includes bibliographical references.""I spent eighteen years in a group that taught me to hate myself. You cannot be queer and a Jehovah's Witness--it's one or the other." Daniel Allen Cox grew up with firm lines around what his religion considered unacceptable: celebrating birthdays and holidays; voting in elections, pursuing higher education, and other forays into independent thought. Their opposition to blood transfusions would have consequences for his mother, just as their stance on homosexuality would for him. But even years after whispers of his sexual orientation reached his congregation's presiding elder, catalyzing his disassociation, the distinction between "in" and "out" isn't always clear. Still in the midst of a lifelong disentanglement, Cox grapples with the group's cultish tactics--from gaslighting to shunning--and their resulting harms--from simmering anger to substance abuse--all while redefining its concepts through a queer lens. Can Paradise be a bathhouse, a concert hall, or a room full of books? With great candour and disarming self-awareness, Cox takes readers on a journey from his early days as a solicitous door-to-door preacher in Montreal to a stint in New York City, where he's swept up in a scene of photographers and hustlers blurring the line between art and pornography. The culmination of years spent both processing and avoiding a complicated past, I Felt the End Before It Came reckons with memory and language just as it provides a blueprint to surviving a litany of Armageddons."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Creative nonfiction.; Cox, Daniel Allen; Cox, Daniel Allen.; Ex-church members; Ex-church members; Gay men; Authors, Canadian (English);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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I was told to come alone : my journey behind the lines of jihad / by Mekhennet, Souad,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."The journalist who broke the "Jihadi John" story draws on her personal experience to bridge the gap between the Muslim world and the West and explain the rise of Islamic radicalism Souad Mekhennet has lived her entire life between worlds. The daughter of a Turkish mother and a Moroccan father, she was born and educated in Germany and has worked for several American newspapers. Since the 9/11 attacks she has reported stories among the most dangerous members of her religion; when she is told to come alone to an interview, she never knows what awaits at her destination. In this compelling and evocative book, Mekhennet seeks to answer the question, "What is in the minds of these young jihadists, and how can we understand and defuse it?" She has unique and exclusive access into the world of jihad and sometimes her reporting has put her life in danger. We accompany her from Germany to the heart of the Muslim world -- from the Middle East to North Africa, from Sunni Pakistan to Shia Iran, and the Turkish/Syrian border region where ISIS is a daily presence. She then returns to Europe, first in London, where she uncovers the identity of the notorious ISIS executioner "Jihadi John," and then in Paris and Brussels, where terror has come to the heart of Western civilization. Too often we find ourselves unable to see the human stories behind the headlines, and so Mekhennet - with a foot in many different camps - is the ideal guide to take us where no Western reporter can go. Her story is a journey that changes her life and will have a deep impact on us as well"--
Subjects: Mekhennet, Souad.; Emwazi, Mohammed, -2015.; IS (Organization); Jihad.; Terrorism;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Hope : the autobiography / by Francis,Pope,1936-author.; Dixon, Richard,translator.; Musso, Carlo,author.; translation of:Francis,Pope,1936-Spera.English.;
Includes bibliographical references."Pope Francis originally intended this exceptional book to appear only after his death, but the needs of our times and the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope have moved him to make this precious legacy available now. Hope is the first autobiography in history ever to be published by a Pope. Written over six years, this complete autobiography starts in the early years of the twentieth century, with Pope Francis's Italian roots and his ancestors' courageous migration to Latin America, continuing through his childhood, the enthusiasms and preoccupations of his youth, his vocation, adult life, and the whole of his papacy up to the present day. In recounting his memories with intimate narrative force (not forgetting his own personal passions), Pope Francis deals unsparingly with some of the crucial moments of his papacy and writes candidly, fearlessly, and prophetically about some of the most important and controversial questions of our present times: war and peace (including the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East), migration, environmental crisis, social policy, the position of women, sexuality, technological developments, the future of the Church and of religion in general. Hope includes a wealth of revelations, anecdotes, and illuminating thoughts. It is a thrilling and very human memoir, moving and sometimes funny, which represents the "story of a life" and, at the same time, a touching moral and spiritual testament that will fascinate readers throughout the world and will be Pope Francis's legacy of hope for future generations. The book is enhanced by remarkable photographs, including private and unpublished material made personally available by Pope Francis himself"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Francis, Pope, 1936-; Popes;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The future is analog : how to create a more human world / by Sax, David,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."The beloved author of The Revenge of Analog lays out a case for a human future--not the false technological utopia we've been living. For years, consumers have been promised a simple, carefree digital future. We could live, work, learn, and play from the comforts of our homes, and have whatever we desire brought to our door with the flick of a finger. Instant communication would bring us together. Technological convenience would give us more time to focus on what really mattered. When the pandemic hit, that future transformed into the present, almost overnight. And the reviews aren't great. It turns out that leaving the house is underrated, instant communication spreads anger better than joy, and convenience takes away time rather than giving it to us. Oops. But as David Sax argues in this insightful book, we've also had our eyes opened. There is nothing about the future that has to be digital, and embracing the reality of human experience doesn't mean resisting change. In chapters exploring work, school, leisure, and more, Sax asks perceptive and pointed questions: what happens to struggling students when they're not in a classroom? If our software is built for productivity, who tends to the social and cultural aspects of our jobs? Can you have religion without community? For many people, the best parts of quarantine have been the least digital ones: baking bread, playing board games, going hiking. We used our hands and hugged our children and breathed fresh air. This book suggests that if we want a healthy future, we need to choose not convenience but community, not technology but humanity"--
Subjects: Technology; Technology;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Outspoken : my fight for freedom and human rights in Afghanistan / by Samar, Sima,author.; Armstrong, Sally,1943-author.;
"The impassioned memoir of Afghanistan's Sima Samar: medical doctor, politician, founder of schools and hospitals, thorn in the side of the Taliban, nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, and lifelong advocate for girls and women. "I have three strikes against me. I'm a woman, I speak out for women and I'm Hazara, the most persecuted tribe in Afghanistan." Dr. Sima Samar has been fighting for equality and justice for most of her life. Born into a polygamous family, she learned early that girls had inferior status, and had to agree to an arranged marriage if she wanted to go to university. By the time she was in medical school, she had a son, Ali, and had become a revolutionary. After her husband was disappeared by the pro-Russian regime, she escaped. With her son and medical degree, she took off into the rural areas--by horseback, by donkey, even on foot--to treat people who had never had medical help before. Her wide-ranging experiences both in her home country and on the world stage mean she has all the inside stories: the dishonesty, the collusion, the corruption, the self-serving leaders, the hijacking of religion. And as a former Vice President, she knows all the players in this chess game called Afghanistan. With stories that are at times poignant, at times terrifying, inspiring as well as disheartening, Sima provides an unparalleled view of Afghanistan's past and its present. Despite being in grave personal danger for many years, she has worked tirelessly to achieve justice and full human rights for all the citizens of her country."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Personal narratives.; Samar, Sima.; Physicians; Political activists; Women physicians; Women political activists; Women; Women; Women's rights;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Lucid dying : the new science revolutionizing how we understand life and death / by Parnia, Sam,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."A groundbreaking look at what happens to us when we die, based on the largest-ever research study run on recalled experiences of death. Today, for the first time in history, the scientific exploration of death and what happens when we die is real, active and ongoing. Contrary to popular perceptions, this subject is no longer the remit of philosophy, religion, or personal opinion. Truly remarkable scientific discoveries that will fundamentally affect everyone's lives now and in the future are taking place, yet very few people are aware of them. Most people -- including scientists and doctors-maintain strong beliefs about death and its experience. Those beliefs are rooted in traditional, and often cultural, notions of death. But what if all that we have come to believe about death is fundamentally wrong? What if the paradigm we have been operating within no longer exists? What if death is not the end we thought? Lucid Dying is the first book to share that science. Presenting data derived from multiple groundbreaking studies, Dr. Parnia shows that the entity we refer to as consciousness -- our Self -- does not seem to become annihilated when we die. In fact, during death, our consciousness vastly expands and leads to a vivid experience that follows a very specific narrative arc. These studies support that there really is a universal experience of death that is meaningful, transcendent, positive, and transformative -- not hallucinatory, delusional, or illusory as previously imagined. In his latest book, Dr. Parnia weaves empirical research with gripping stories to show us the truth of how death is not the end we all thought and how anyone can harness the newfound wisdom to lead deeper, more intentional lives."--
Subjects: Death (Biology); Death; Death.; Future life.; Near-death experiences.; Thanatology.;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Results 251 to 260 of 282 | « previous |