This book presents a creative approach to the problem of individual authenticity. What is authenticity? What are its necessary conditions? How is an authentic self possible in society? What are the relationships of authenticity, morality, and happiness? The book examines a wide range of questions in Eastern and Western thought, to which it gives novel answers.

The product of a violent home, John Christian Hillcox overcomes long odds to build a Texas megachurch from where he preaches the gospels of Prosperity and End Times, while also using the power of his voting bloc as a political cudgel. A man of enormous appetites and inadequate self-control, Pastor Hillcox rallies his church and televangelical flock to oppose everything he considers immoral and detrimental to the United States' becoming the godly, Christian nation it is meant to be. Being Christian is a gripping psychological tale of a man who utilizes religion to justify his own sins and lies, heedless of the consequences for his loved ones, his community, and the world at large. The story of this larger-than-life, but all too familiar, character follows him from his crime-ridden early adulthood to the prime of his ministry in post-9/11 America. Not since the twentieth century's Elmer Gantry has a novel so exposed the religious film-flammery and hypocrisy that now threatens to tear apart the American social and political fabric. Being Christian is a quintessentially American story, based on the ideologies and personalities that make the news every day with their challenges to the Constitutional religious/political divide. Book Review: "Being Christian" is a timely and provocative work that reveals a new courageous author and an important not-so fictional introduction to the dangers of an American brand of fundamentalism that is corrupting American politics and policies. The writing is vivid and straight from the shoulder; the narrative is chilling and genuine; the ideas are compelling. Anyone interested in the impact of religious fundamentalism on American politics will absorb this work. As for the Founding Fathers, they would say "we warned you about this. -- Melvin Goodman, Former analyst for the CIA and the State Department, Professor and Fellow

A Study Guide for Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students.This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.

"A gorgeously rendered adventure that captures the ache and joy of adolescence in a mad world."--Tillie Walden, award-winning author of On a Sunbeam Ty and Burger have known each other since before they could walk. But this shared history is nothing compared to their plans for the future: step one, make a killer documentary about humanity’s recent brush with extinction; step two, apply to film school together; step three, achieve legendary status as the next great filmmaking duo. But Ty has a secret that will ultimately shake the foundations of their friendship and force them both to wonder if growing up means letting go of the people they once were. With heads full of bioluminescence and hearts full of fury, “squizzies” have one thing on their tiny rodent brains: global annihilation. Their reign of terror may be a thing of the past, but Ty and Burger are determined to chronicle the perseverance of the human race in the wake of the “squirrel-pocalypse.” With friends Miles and Fib, they embark on an overnight excursion through rowdy nightclubs, once-familiar neighborhoods, perilous castles, and off-grid RVs, all the while, recording quiet lives of love and loss in a strange new world. Set over the course of a single day, Luminous Beings explores the many facets of friendship and love, the heavy burden of a well-kept secret, the boundless tenacity of the human spirit, and, yes, the furriest of all zombified mammals. But don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world. Just the end of the squirrel