The numerous legal, moral, and social threats on the horizon in America have caused many Christians to wonder whether they can truly make a difference. Contrary to some current voices that have called for retreat, Janet and Craig Parshall explain why Christians must engage the culture as never before in order to fulfill the whole mission of the church. In The Light in the City, the Parshalls help readers understand the biblical basis for the need for Christians to be actively involved in the formation of public policy. Issues addressed in this book are as current as tabloid headlines. The Light in the City not only gives a biblical and historical basis for Christian involvement, but it also provides practical strategies and personal testimonies of encouragement.

When Elvis crooned "Bright light city . . . gonna set my soul on fire," he voiced and embraced the siren call of a glittering urban utopia that continues to mesmerize millions. Call it Sin City or Lost Wages, Las Vegas definitely deserves its rapturous "Viva!" Larry Gragg, however, invites readers to view Las Vegas in an entirely new way. While countless other authors have focused on its history or gaming industry or entertainment ties, Gragg considers how popular culture has depicted the city and its powerful allure over its first century. Drawing on hundreds of films, television programs, novels, and articles, Gragg identifies changing trends in the city's portraits. Until the 1940s, boosters promoted it as the "last frontier town," a place where prospectors and cowboys enjoyed liquor, women, and wide-open gambling. Then in the early 1950s commentators increasingly characterized Las Vegas as a sophisticated resort city in the desert, and ever since then journalists, filmmakers, and novelists have depicted a city largely built by organized crime and featuring non-stop entertainment, gambling, luxury, and, of course, beautiful-and available-women. In Gragg's narrative, these images form a kaleidoscope of lights, sounds, characters, and ultimately amazement about this neon oasis. In these pages, readers will meet gangsters like Bugsy Siegel, Tony Spilotro, and Lefty Rosenthal, as well as Las Vegas's most popular entertainers: Elvis Presley, Sinatra's Rat Pack, Liberace, and Wayne Newton, not to mention the Folies Bergere showgirls. And Gragg's skillful interweaving of fictional and journalistic accounts of organized crime shows just how mutually reinforcing they have become over the years. Vegas will always make people's eyes light up as bright as the Strip, witness the new TV show Vegas or the recent film The Hangover. For everyone entranced by its glitter and glamour, Bright Light City is a must read boasting color photos and bursting with insider details: an eclectic blend of stories, people, sights, and sounds that together make up this desert city's extraordinary appeal.

The memoir is that of a cab driver whose constant exposure to criminal violence on the night streets as a first-hand observer, resulting in his regularly being called as a court witness, opened his eyes to the practice of the justice system in action, and led to his disenchantment with the law courts' apparent lack of equitable restitution and retribution.Following an assault which left him scarred, he eventually formed alliance with underworld acquaintances whom he met in the course of nightshift working, and this subsequently resulted in a philosophy of taking the law into his own hands in response to confrontation by criminal violence.The memoir also sheds light on lesser known twilight aspects of human behaviour, and exposes the covert municipal practice of the red light traffic policy, a subterfuge which is not generally understood.

Avi's ground-breaking graphic novel gets a stunning new cover to celebrate its twentieth anniversary! Two kids fight to save their city from eternal winter in this gripping fantasy by Newbery Medalist Avi, illustrated by three-time Sibert Honoree Brian Floca."To begin with--there were these KURBS. These Kurbs owned an Island...with their POWER they controlled both day and night...Years ago, when People first came to the Kurbs' Island, they wanted to build themselves a City."The Kurbs give people light and warmth to establish a city, on one condition: The people must return the Power every year or risk losing the city--forever. This system works for centuries until evil Mr. Underton tries to steal the Power. If he succeeds, the Kurbs will take back the City, reducing it to a dark and frozen tundra. It's up to Carlos and Sarah to find the Power--housed in a subway token--and keep the City safe, despite secrets of Sarah's history that are entwined with the token. What ensues is a race against darkness. A race against the lies of the past. And most of all, a race against time.

Unlike any other city in the world, Paris has underneath it a whole other urban space comprised of abandoned rock quarries, waterways, a sophisticated sewer system, a dense subway system, shopping centers and catacombs. Throughout history stories have been told of political dissidents, thieves, partying beatniks, spelunkers, artists and phantoms, all wandering in a subterranean city of dark under the City of Light. Now you can descend with the author as she goes down to see for herself, meeting the people who dwell in this underworld.